Asia Cup Stage 2: Indian Archers On Roll, Confirm Four Medals

Indian archers made a flying start to their campaign in the Asia Cup Stage 2 World Ranking Tournament, advancing to the finals of all four team events in the recurve and compound sections, here on Tuesday. The top-seeded Indian men’s recurve team of Mrinal Chauhan, Tushar Shelke and Jayanta Talukdar eliminated hosts’ Uzbekistan’s Chen Yao Yuy, Mirjalol Karorov and Amirkhan Sadikov 6-0 (56-54, 57-54, 56-53) in the semifinal.

They started off with a 6-0 (54-49, 58-48, 53-45) win over Kyrgyzstan. The men’s recurve team will take on their rivals from China in the gold medal clash on Friday.

Recurve women’s team of Sangeeta, Prachi Singh and Tanisha Verma overcame Uzbekistan in a nail-biting tiebreaker finish to emerge 5-4 (53-54, 56-49, 52-50, 52-54, 26*-26) winners. In the semi-final, the Indian women’s recurve team defeated Saudi Arabia 6-0 (50-40, 54-47, 49-45) in the quarters. India will face China in the women’s recurve team final too.

Having got a bye into semi-final, the top-seeded compound men’s team of Abhishek Verma, Kushal Dalal and Amit got the better of Saudi Arabia 236-221 to make the final. They will take on Hong Kong in the gold medal clash on Friday. The compound women’s team of Parneet Kaur, Pragati and Raginee Markoo are already in the final after topping the qualification round and they will also take on Hong Kong in the gold medal clash.

With no participants from heavyweights Korea, it’s a depleted field at the Asia Cup Stage 2. India have sent their second-string side for the continental showpiece.