Archery World Cup Stage 3: Abhishek Verma clinches maiden gold in men's compound

Experienced archer has won two medals overall in the competition

India's Abhishek Verma clinched the gold medal in men's individual compound at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 held in Medellin. The former Asian Games gold medallist defeated second seed James Lutz (148-146) in the final and in the process also qualified for the Archery World Cup Finals (scheduled to be held after the end of Stage 4).

It was a smooth sailing for the 33-year-old at the World Cup. Abhishek has made a great comeback to the Indian World Cup squad after being left out in the first two stages. He started the opening round with an astounding win against Ocampo and continued his fine run until the quarter-finals. In the quarters, the eighth seed took on the top seed Mike Schloesser with the match ending in a tie. Abhishek in the shootoffs shot 10 (closer to the mid ring) which enabled him to qualify for the semi-finals.

This is Abhishek Verma's second medal at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 (bronze in men's compound team). None of the archers in the men's recurve section qualified to the third round. Mrinal Chauhan was the lone archer to progress to round 2 whereas (Dhiraj Bommadevera, experienced Tarundeep Rai, and India's top seed Tushar Prabhakar Shelke) bowed out in the opening round.

In the women's recurve, ninth seed Bhajan Kaur was the lone athlete to progress to the quarter-finals but lost to top seed Lim Sihyeon (2-6) to exit the competition.

Abhishek Verma's performance at the Archery World Cup Stage 3

R1 - beats Avila Ocampo (149-141)

R2 - beats Tim Jevsnik (145-144)

R3 - beats Julio Barillas (147-143)

Quarter-finals - beats Mike Schloesser (148-148)

Semi-finals - beats Lucas Abreu (148-143)

Final - beats James Lutz (148-146)