Hangzhou: The Indian women’s team fought back strongly to defeat Chinese Taipei 230-229 in a closely-fought final to win the gold medal in the Women’s Team Compound archery competition at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou on Thursday.
The Indian team, comprising Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Gopichand Swami and Parneet Kaur, struck precise arrows to overcome the Chinese Taipei team of Chen Yi-Hsuan, I-Jou Huang and Lu-Yun Wang in the competition held over 25 arrows at 50m range.
Each team took turns shooting two arrows each archer over four rounds and the Indian came back strongly after trailing by two points in the first round.
The Indians started with Parneet Kaur shooting the first arrow, followed by the 17-year-old reigning World Champion Aditi the experienced Jyothi Surekha Vennam in third.
In the first round, the Indians managed 54 points out of a possible 60 with Parneet shooting a nine and an 8, Aditi with two 9s and Jyothi shooting a 10 and a nine. In contrast, the Chinese Taipei trio had three 10s but a 7 and nine meant they did not open up a big lead.
India won the next End (round) 58-55 with four scores of 10 and two nines. Their rivals managed three scores of 10 and two nines but a seven off the 12th arrow proved a stumbling block again as India led 112-111.
The Chinese Taipei trio shot a perfect 60 in the third End while the Indians had a nine on the 13th arrow,thus losing the round 59-60, and the scores tied 171-171
However, the Indians shot five scores of 10 and a nine in the fourth and final round while the Chinese Taipei archers could manage only 58 as two of their archers shot 9s, thus losing the match by one point.
It was a narrow victory but symbolic of India’s rise in compound archery as they had nearly ended the Korean domination of this discipline.
Earlier, the Indian women’s team reached the final by beating Hong Kong China 231-220 in the quarterfinals and Indonesia 233-219 in the semifinals.
The Compound Men’s Team take onBhutan in the quarterfinals in the afternoon session.
Jyothi has reached the final in the Compound Women’s Individual competition while two Indians, Abhishek Verma and Ojas Pravin Deotale will fight it out in the final of the Compound Men’s Individual.
–IANS
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