India shoot two gold, one silver at World Archery Para Series Stage III

AHMEDABAD: India's men's recurve and compound teams led the show with twin gold medals, while the women's recurve team added a silver on the penultimate day of the World Archery Para Series (Stage III), here on Tuesday.

The men's compound pair of reigning world champion Toman Kumar and Shyam Sunder Swami defeated Iraq 152-139, while the recurve duo of double Paralympic medallist Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi overcame Slovakia 6-2 to complete India's gold-medal sweep in the men's team events.

The women's recurve team of Bhawna and Pooja had a poor show and settled for silver after going down 0-6 to China in the final.

India also missed out on a bronze in the women's compound team event, with Sheetal Devi and Payal Nag losing their third-place playoff to China.

Swami and Toman clinched the gold medal in the men's compound team event with a dominant win over Iraq's Abbas Kadhim and Anwer Aldawod.

The Indian pair made a slow start, scoring an 8 in the opening end, but quickly found their rhythm. They were particularly accurate over the next 12 arrows, dropping only five points to establish a commanding lead.

With their arrow execution becoming more consistent and their scoring remaining high, Swami and Toman controlled the match and completed a dominant victory.

Harvinder and Sundi fought back from an opening-set deficit to defeat Slovakia's David Ivan and Denis Ivan 6-2, winning the match 34-37, 36-31, 38-34, 35-31.

India struggled initially, with a 7 and no 10 in the opening set, allowing Slovakia to take an early advantage.

But the Indian team quickly settled into their shooting rhythm.

Harvinder, a double Paralympic medallist, led the recovery. He was the first Indian archer to win a Paralympic medal, taking bronze at Tokyo 2020, and became the first Indian archer to win Paralympic gold at Paris 2024.

India's consistency improved significantly from the second set onwards.

The decisive moment came in the third set, when the Indians shot three 10s to take a 4-2 lead. They maintained their composure in the fourth set, producing another solid series of arrows to close out the gold-medal victory.

Bhawna and Pooja finished with the silver medal after losing to China 0-6 in a one-sided final.

The match scores were 23-34, 33-35, 30-31.

The Indian pair struggled for consistency throughout the final and never managed to find the scoring level required to challenge China.

India had a difficult opening set, shooting 4, 5, and 6, while China maintained a significant advantage.

The second set was an improvement, with the Indians producing three 8s and a 9, but they still could not close the gap.

The third set again proved difficult. India recorded a 5 and a 7 and, notably, failed to shoot a 10 throughout the entire match.

China were also not at their most clinical, but India's inconsistent arrow placement meant the Chinese pair was able to protect its lead and secure the gold medal.

Meanwhile, Sheetal and Payal narrowly missed out on a medal in the women's compound team event after losing the bronze-medal playoff to China's Wang Huiting and Gao Fangxia.

The Indian pair struggled to maintain scoring consistency across their 16 arrows and could not produce the high-scoring ends needed to stay in contention.

Their best passage came in the second end, when they were only one point behind at 73-74. However, a poor third end allowed China to pull away and secure the bronze medal.