Archery World Cup: India’s Jyothi Surekha Vennam wins individual and compound mixed team gold

Antalya (Turkey): Indian archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam won gold medals in the women’s individual compound and mixed team events at the Archery World Cup 2023 Stage 1, here on Saturday.

Jyothi defeated Colombia’s Sara Lopez 149-146 in the title clash to top the podium. She defeated world No. 1 Ella Gibson of Britain 148-146 to advance to the final.

On the other hand, Jyothi and partner Ojas Pravin Deotale topped the podium in the compound mixed team event with a 159-154 win over Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yi Hsuan and Chem Chieh Lun in the summit clash.  

Having scored 159 out of a possible 160, the Indian compound mixed archery team also narrowly missed out on equalling the world record by one point.

This was India’s second-ever World Cup gold medal in the mixed team compound event. Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma clinched the maiden gold at Paris in 2022.

On her way to the individual final, Jyothi defeated Switzerland’s Myriam Hasler in the first round. She then beat USA’s Danelle Lutz and Mexico’s Ana Sofía Hernandez Jeon in the second and the third rounds, respectively.

In the quarter-finals, Jyothi Surekha Vennam overcame Denmark’s Tanja Gellenthien to progress into the semi-finals, an olympics.com report said.

Jyothi had equalled the world record in the women’s compound event’s qualification round on Tuesday. She scored 713 out of a possible 720 points to equal the record achieved by Sara Lopez of Colombia in 2015.

En route to the compound mixed team gold, the Indian duo defeated Malaysia’s Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh and Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki 157-154 in the semi-finals.

Earlier, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Ojas Pravin Deotale, who got a bye into the first round after qualifying as second seeds, defeated Luxembourg and France.

India have a chance to win the third gold medal of the competition on Sunday. The Indian men’s recurve team of Atanu Das, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Tarundeep Rai will face Chinese trio of  Li Zhongyuan, Wei Shaoxuan and Qi Xiangshuo in the gold medal match.

Dhiraj Bommadevara will also be in action in the men’s recurve individual event’s semi-finals.

–IANS