Compound archers assure India a medal in World Cup

Kolkata: Rajat Chouhan and Manjudha Soy stormed into the final of compound mixed section to assure India of a minimum silver medal as top archers came a cropper at the World Cup Stage II being held at Antalya, Turkey.

According to information received here, the duo who qualified third behind Korea, defeated Great Britain 151-149, Russia 156-154 and Canada 154-147 en route to the final. Chouhan and Manjudha will look to win a first-ever gold medal for India in the compound section when they face Italian pair Sergio Pagni and Marcella Tonioli in the mixed team final tomorrow. The Indian pair showed amazing coordination right from the start when they showed British the door in the first round with 10 perfect 10s. In the quarters, Chouhan and Manjudha were a picture of consistency as they overcame a stiff Russian challenge with a narrow two-point margin. Canadian duo of Dietmar Trillius and Ashley Wallace had a dream run as they had an upset win over Mexico in the quarters but they found the Indian pair too tough as Chouhan and Manjudha stormed into the final with flying colours. The compound men`s team had a quarterfinal exit losing to the USA 230-237 while the women`s trio had a first round when they lost 215-219 to their opponents from Venezuela. Earlier, the fancied recurve archers disappointed with Laishram Bombayla Devi most impressive among the lot with a quarterfinal exit in the women`s individual. Bombayla Devi went down to Hyun Jung Joo of Korea 2-6 in the quarters. Dola Banerjee lost to Bo Bae Ki 2-6 while Rimil Biruly narrowly lost to Ana Maria Rendon of Colombia 5-6 as the contest went down till the last arrow. In the recurve men individual Atanu Das lost to Brady Ellison of the USA 1-7 in the pre-quarterfinals. Rahul Banerjee lost to Jianping Zhang of China 0-6 in the round of 32. Indian men`s team made a first round exit going down to Spain 219-222 while the women`s team went past the first round hurdle before going down to Korea 224-227 in the quarters. PTI