Archery World Cup: India misses bronze on play-offs

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India fails to do anything in bronze play-offs. Image Source: alfa-img.com

Internet Desk: Indian men’s compound team lost the bronze play-off to their French rivals in the Archery World Cup Stage II.

The compound team bagged a gold in the World Cup Stage-I, giving India a flicker of hope for the forthcoming stage-II.

The morning session saw India suffering consecutive defeats which led the women’s compound team to lose the bronze medal 222-227 to Italy.

Abhishek Verma and Divya Dahal are India’s only hope at the moment. They will be in the compound mixed pair bronze play-off where India will face competitors from Italy.

But the trio of Abhishek Verma, Chinna Raju-Srither and Gurwinder Singh lost to Pierre-Julien Deloche, Dominique Genet and Fabien Delobelle 227-228 in a closely-fought encounter.

It was their lackluster opening end of 56 against the Frenchmen’s solid 59 out of a maximum 60 that proved costly.

Making amends in the second end, Indians shot four perfect 10s including two Xs (closest to the centre) to level 114-114.

But the French team snatched a slender 172-171 lead in the third end before sealing the bronze in the next set.

In the women’s compound team event, Divya Dahal, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Snehal Mandhare opened up a 56-54 lead and extended it 112-110 with consistent shootings.

But they capped an 8 and 7 in a terrible third end of 54 to allow Marcella Tonioli, Irene Franchini and Viviana Spano to take a crucial 166-168 lead.

Italy came up with a near-flawless 59 in the fourth end to clinch the bronze.

With inputs from PTI.