World Archery Championships 2021 Day 3: Abhishek, Jyothi reach quarter-finals

Ankita Bhakat knocked out Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Kang Chae-young.

India's leading compound archers Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam continued to have a good time at the World Archery Championships as they advanced to the quarter-finals of the ongoing tournament on Friday.

In the men's compound category, Abhishek Verma beat Jozef Bosansky of Slovakia 145-142 in the fourth round to enter the quarter-finals. He had narrowly defeated Furkan Oruc of Turkey 150-149 in the earlier round. In the women's compound section, Jyothi Surekha Vennam defeated South Korea's So Chae-won 146-142 to reach the last eight. She had earlier defeated Inge Van Der Ven 147-144 in the third round.

Seventh-seed Verma will now face a stern test against second-seed Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. On the other hand, sixth-seed Vennam's match in the quarters will be against 19th seed Amanda Mlinaric of Croatia.

Young compound archers bow out

There were several young Indian compound archers in action on day 3 of the World Archery Championships 2021. Among the women, Priya Gurjar and Muskan Kirar managed to reach the third round before exiting. Gurjar lost out 138-141 to Amanda Mlinaric, whereas Kirar was beaten 139-145 by Slovenia's Toja Ellison.

Among the male compound archers, Rishabh Yadav and Sangrampreet Singh Bisla had made promising starts but lost their second round matches. Yadav was beaten by German Sebastian Hamdorf 143-146. Meanwhile, Bisla fought valiantly but succumbed to a 144-145 defeat to Furkan Oruc.

Bhakat shines, Bari crashes out

The only bright light among the Indian recurve archers was Ankita Bhakat. The 23-year-old made it through to the quarter-finals after a scintillating performance in her fourth-round affair. Up against Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Kang Chae-young, the young Indian wasn't unfazed by the stature of her opponent. Bhakat triumphed 6-4 against the South Korean to reach the last eight. She will take on American Casey Kaufhold in the quarter-finals of the World Archery Championships 2021.

However, her compatriots Komalika Bari and Ridhi Phor were both shown the exit door in the early rounds. Bari lost 2-6 to Kang Chae-young in the third round. This is after she had seen off Elisa Tartler of Germany 6-5 in a tense shoot-off. Phor, however, lost her opening round match 4-6 to Tomomi Sugimoto of Japan.

Elsewhere, the men's recurve archers all endured another disappointing day. Parth Salunkhe lost his first-round match in a shoot-off to Maximilian Weckmueller of Germany. Atul Verma was the next one to exit. He suffered a 4-6 loss at the hands of Dashnamjil Dorjsuren of Mongolia in the second round. Aditya Choudhary went furthest among the men's recurve archers before losing his fourth-round matchup. A comprehensive 0-6 defeat at the hands of Spaniard Miguel Alvarino Garcia brought his World Archery Championships 2021 campaign to an end.

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