Asia Cup Archery
Sulaymaniyah (Iraq), May 9: Continuing their dominance in a depleted field, Indian junior archers confirmed six more medals, including two gold, in the individual sections of the Asia Cup Stage 2 here on Monday.
Having sealed six medals in team events on Sunday, the Indians did an encore in the individual sections riding on a superlative show by the compound archers.
Prathamesh Fuge, Rishabh Yadav and Jawkar Samadhan, who bagged the top-three seeds, lived up to the qualification rankings to keep India in the hunt for a rare clean sweep in the compound men’s individual section.
Top seed Fuge edged out Sergey Khristich of Kazakhstan in a thrilling shoot-off 143-143 (10*-10), by landing his arrow closer to the centre to make the final.
Fuge will face teammate Yadav in the final. Yadav also took the tiebreaker route to the final, pipping his teammate Samadhan 146-146 (10-9).
India’s hope for a clean sweep will rest on Samadhan who will face Sergey in the bronze play-off.
In the compound women’s individual section, top seed Parneet Kaur defeated Biswas Suma of Bangladesh 146-137 while Sakshi Chaudhary overcame Shamoli Ray of Bangladesh 143-140 to make it an all-Indian final.
In the recurve men’s individual section, India assured at least a silver after sixth seed Mrinal Chauhan defeated his higher-ranked teammate Parth Salunkhe 7-3 in the semi-final.
Chauhan will take on fourth seed Ruman Shana of Bangladesh in the final.
India will also have a shot at a bronze medal with former national champion Salunkhe up against topseed Amirkhan Sadikov of Uzbekistan in the third place play-off.
Bhajan Kaur pipped Bangladesh’s Beauty Ray 6-5 (8*-8) in the shoot-off to advance into the final in the recurve women’s individual section.
Bhajan will face Diya Siddique of Bangladesh in the gold medal bout.
India have sent a junior side for the meet that is depleted by the absence of Asian heavyweights China, Chinese Taipei and China. (PTI)
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