India win silver in Archery World Cup

Kolkata: Rajat Chouhan and Manjudha Soy lost out by one point in the compound mixed team final to earn India a solitary silver medal in the Archery World Cup Stage II at Antalya, Turkey on Saturday.

According to information received here, the unheralded Indian duo had a slender 112-111 lead against the Italian world champions Sergio Pagni and Marcella Toniolli at the end of third set. But the inexperienced Indians faltered by a couple of millimetres in the final arrow to go down 149-150 in a thrilling contest. India have never won a gold medal in the compound section and their previous best in this format was in the Ogden World Cup 2011 (Stage III) when the women`s team of Manjudha, Gagandeep Kaur and Jhano Hansdah had won a silver. This is a second World Cup silver for Railways girl Manjudha, who hails from Jharkhand, while it`s a first-ever silver in the mixed team event in the compound section. Having just won a team bronze this morning, Pagni quickly adapted to the windy condition along with his partner as the Italian opened up a three-point lead (39-36) in the first end. However Tonioli was caught by the wind in the second end with a 6 but Italy still held their lead (74-73) at the midway stage. India`s score of 39 in the third end put them in the driving seat as they snatched the lead (112-111). But the match resulted in a tie before the final two arrows and Italy shot two perfect 10s to put pressure on India. The duo crumbled under pressure with a 10-9, the last arrow being just a couple of millimetres out to miss out on what could have been a historic gold for India. Earlier, the fancied Indian recurve archers had crashed out before the quarters as India concluded their campaign with the silver lining from the compound archers. PTI