India’s Jyothi claims WC gold in archery

ANTALYA: Jyothi Surekha Vennam and her debutant partner Ojas Deotale were at their ruthless best and prevailed over Chinese Taipei 159-154 as India grabbed the compound mixed team gold to open its account in the World Cup Stage 1 here on Saturday.

This was also India’s second ever World Cup gold medal in the mixed compound event. Jyothi and veteran Abhishek Verma had clinched their maiden gold in World Cup-3 in Paris 2022.

In the absence of India’s multiple World Cup winner Verma, who failed to make the cut from the national trials, the new-look Indian pair hardly looked short on experience and hit the centre an incredible 15 times from 16 arrows to defeat its 12th-seeded rivals in a lopsided final.

Of the 15 perfect 10s, 12 times they hit the ‘X’ (closer to the centre).

The second seeded Indian duo of Jyothi and 20-year-old Deotale dropped just one point only once in the final end otherwise it would have been a perfect 160/160.

There was no stopping Jyothi and Deotale who drilled in a string of perfect 10s to race to a 120-116 lead in the penultimate end.

The second end was a fairytale affair as they hit the ‘X’ all on their four attempts to make it 80-76 in favour of them.