World Archery Championships Day 2: Indian women's, mixed compound teams reach final

The recurve teams endured another disappointing day.

The Indian women's and mixed compound teams put up assured displays to enter the final of the World Archery Championships in Yankton, USA. The women's compound archery team defeated hosts USA 226-225 after a closely fought affair to enter the finals.

The seventh-seeded women's team comprising Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Priya Gurjar and Muskan Kirar, held their nerves in a close battle with Linda Ochoa-Anderson, Paige Pearce and Makenna Proctor on Wednesday. The Indian women's trio will next face top seeds Colombia in the final. Colombia defeated France 234-220 in their semi-final match. The Colombian team consists of Sara Lopez, Nora Valdez and Alejandra Usquiano.

On the other hand, the mixed team of Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam also reached the final. The Indian duo beat South Korea's Kim Yun-hee and Kim Jong-ho 159-156. Their opponents in the summit clash will also be Colombia. Sara Lopez and Daniel Munoz are the South American nation's representatives in this category at the World Archery Championships.

However, the men's team, led by the seasoned Verma, lost 235-238 to Austria in the quarterfinals. Three-time World Cup gold-medalist Verma, along with Sangam Bisla and Rishabh Yadav, fought well, but ultimately fell short.

India has climbed the most podiums at the World Archery Championships (eight) among nations that have never won a gold. They have previously appeared in six finals, leaving with a silver each time. Both the women's and mixed teams will now have the chance to end the drought this week in Yankton.

Recurve archers continue to disappoint

Meanwhile, the Indian recurve archers' disappointing campaign continues at the ongoing World Archery Championships 2021. The men's recurve team exited after a defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei in the second round. Parth Salunkhe, Aditya Choudhary and Atul Verma lost 5-3 to Wei Chun-Heng, Yu Guan-Lin and Hung Cheng-Hao.

The recurve women's team fared slightly better in making it through to the quarterfinals, before losing to Mexico. A comprehensive 6-2 defeat was handed out to Komalika Bari, Ankita Bhakat and Ridhi Phor. In truth, it was always going to be a tough task against a star-studded Mexican team consisting of Alejandra Valencia, Aida Roman and Ana Vazquez.

The Indian recurve mixed team also had to bite the dust in the second round of the World Archery Championships 2021. Youngsters Ankita Bhakat and Parth Salunkhe were up against Olympic gold medalists An San and Kim Woo-jin of South Korea. A 5-1 defeat for the Indians will be among the learning curve for this talented duo.

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