The Indian trio of V. Jyothi Surekha, Parneet Kaur, and Aditi Swami clinched their third consecutive gold medal of the season in the compound women’s team event at the Archery World Cup Stage-3 in Antalya, Turkey, on Saturday.
Priyansh added to India’s medal tally with a silver in the men’s individual event, marking a successful outing for Indian compound archers with two medals.
The top-ranked Indian women’s team narrowly led by one point in the opening end and extended it to defeat Estonia’s Lisell Jaatma, Meeri-Marita Paas, and Maris Tetsmann 232-229 in a closely contested final. The Indian women, who secured the World title and Asian Games gold last year, demonstrated their dominance by hitting the bullseye five out of six times in the penultimate end and four times in the final end on a scorching hot day. This victory marks their fourth straight World Cup Stage gold medal, including a win at Stage-4 in Paris last September.
“Despite the heat, we kept our focus on our shots and rhythm,” said individual World champion Aditi to World Archery.
Priyansh, who initially led by one point in the opening end, achieved a perfect score to narrowly defeat Denmark’s European champion Mathias Fullerton 150-149 in the semifinals. In a tightly contested final, the 21-year-old Indian was edged out by World No.1 Dutchman Mike Schloesser, losing 149-148. Priyansh came close, narrowly missing a 10 in the first end, which allowed Schloesser to gain a one-point lead. Despite a fierce competition, both archers scored a nine in the final end, with the experienced Schloesser ultimately securing the gold.
