Chauhan, Jignas power India to top Asian Archery

Kolkata: Men`s compound trio of Rajat Chauhan, Ritul Chatterjee and Chittibomma Jignas ensured India another gold medal after the fancied recurve archers flopped in the first Asian Grand Prix that concluded in Bangkok on Sunday.

The men`s compound archers contributed three yellow metals as India ended the tournament with a bountiful haul of four gold, five silver and two bronze medals, finishing atop the medal standings. According to information received here, the trio of Chauhan, Chatterjee and Jignas thrashed their opponents from Hong Kong 224-211 to claim the team gold medal, India`s third in compound section. In the semis, they had stunned Korea 236-224. The team gold meant that national champion Chauhan and Jignas ended the meet with two gold medals each. Jignas added the team gold to the individual he won earlier, while Chauhan also had a mixed team gold to his credit. The compound women`s team of Jhano Hansdah, Gagandeep Kaur and Manjudha Soy had to settle for a bronze after beating Hong Kong rivals 227-215 in the play-off. In the semis, India had lost to the eventual winners Thailand 217-221. But it was a disappointing show by India`s full strength recurve teams who lost the final in both the the men`s and women`s sections to cap a forgettable outing in the season`s first tournament. London Olympics-bound Deepika Kumari, Chekrovolu Swuro and Laishram Bombayla Devi suffered a 211-213 defeat at the hands of a rookie Chinese team in the women`s final. The new-look Indian men`s recurve side of Jayanta Talukdar, Mangal Singh Champia and Thupuvoyi Swuro narrowly lost to the Frenchmen 217-218. PTI