Tarundeep Rai-Ridhi clinch recurve mixed team gold

ANTALYA: India's Tarundeep Rai and Ridhi clinched the recurve mixed team gold medal at the 2022 Archery World Cup Stage 1 after a tense final against Great Britain, here on Sunday.

The Indian pair had to come from behind twice before beating Britons Bryony Pitman and Alex Wise through a shootoff.

The 17-year-old Ridhi and 38-year-old Olympian Tarundeep Rai made a slow start to the match after going down 35-37 in the first set. Down 2-0, though, Ridhi and Rai bounced back by a 36-33 scoreline in the second set to level up the affair.

The third set saw the Indians shoot well with 39 but there was little they could do as the English archers raked up a perfect 40. Needing yet another comeback to stay in the match, Rai and Ridhi delivered with a 38-37 win in the fourth set to tie up the match at 4-4 and force the shootoff.

The Indians then closed the close affair, winning the shootoff 18-17. It was India's second medal at the meet in Turkey. Earlier, the compound men's team, comprising Abhishek Verma, Aman Saini and Rajat Chauhan clinched gold after beating France in the final on Saturday.

Meanwhile, India's mixed compound team of Abhishek Verma and Muskan Kirar made it to the bronze medal match but fell short on Sunday, an olympics.com report said.

These three were the only medal matches India could manage at the meet, which, despite the two gold medals, was a disappointing outing for the Indian archers in the stage 1 Archery World Cup.

In the men's individual recurve, only London 2012 Olympian Jayanta Talukdar could make the top eight. Tarundeep Rai lost in the round of 32, Sachin Gupta crashed out in the round of 64, while Neeraj Chauhan was eliminated in the opening contest.

On the other hand, the women's individual recurve saw Ridhi reaching the round of 16. Komalika Bari lost in the round of 32 while Anikta Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur could not go past the first round.The compound archers also struggled, with only Rajat Chauhan and Priya Gurjar making the top eight in the men's and women's individual events, respectively. Asian Games gold medallist Abhishek Verma was ousted in the round of 32.

The recurve teams (men and women) and women's compound team could also not reach the medal rounds. IANS

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