Watch: India bag U18 compound women’s, men’s & mixed team gold medals at Archery World Youth C’ships

India’s Under-18 archers clinched gold medals in the women’s, men’s and mixed team compound events at the Archery World Youth Championships in Wroclaw, Poland on Saturday to complete a team sweep.

The cadet archers also clinched individual medals with Priya Gurjar earning silver and Parneet Kaur winning bronze. The Under-21 category saw India’s Sakshi Chaudhary clinch silver and Rishabh Yadav bag bronze in the individual events.

While the Indian U18 women lived up to their top billing with a convincing win over Turkey, the men’s team upset top seeds USA in a thrilling final.

Priya Gurjar, Parneet Kaur and Ridhu Senthilkumar, who had combined for 2067 points to create a new U18 world record in compound women’s team qualification at this event, sailed through the final against Turkey to win 228-216.

The cadet compound men’s team of Kushal Dalal, Sahil Chaudhary and Nitin Apar pipped top seeds USA in a thrilling final. Chaudhary was especially impressive, shooting a perfect eight out of eight scores of 10 in the final as India won 233-231 against the recent world record setters.

Priya Gurjar and Kushal Dalal then made it a clean sweep in the Under-18 compound team events as they defeated USA in the final of the mixed team category.

In the women’s U18 compound individual event, India had two representatives on the podium. Parneet Kaur won the bronze medal match while Priya Gurjar lost against Mexico’s Selene Rodriguez in the final to finish with silver.

India’s cadet compound archers thus finished their campaign with a total of five medals, three of which of where gold medals. In the absence of archery powerhouses Korea, as well as countries like China and Chinese Taipei, Indian archers dominated the U18 categories and impressed from the word go. In the qualification rounds, the U18 women’s team as well as the mixed team of Kushal Dalal and Priya Gurjar had set new world records in the category.

Under 21 Compound

India’s Sakshi Chaudhary put up a superb fight, pushing the defending champion Amanda Mlinaric till the final arrow of the gold medal match. But the Croatian held her nerve to win 141-140 and make it back-to-back titles. It was Chaudhary’s first appearance at the event.

Rishabh Yadav came up with a stellar performance in the bronze medal match against former U18 champion Sebastian Garcia. He produced two perfects sets of 30 points and overcame an early deficit to win by the smallest of margins at the end after his final arrow was marked up from 9 to 10.

Priya Gurjar, who had topped the qualification round and the team set a world record, narrowly missed the individual gold, going down to Selene Rodriguez by three points (136-139). Priya, Parneet Kaur and Ridhu Senthil Kumar started the day off in serene fashion, breezing to a win in the final against second seeds Turkey. It was a fitting finish to a great week the trio had.

Parneet (who missed out on a place in the final by a solitary point) then bagged a bronze, defeating Hallie Boulton of Great Britain 140-135.

India will also fight for a fourth gold in junior woman individual section and in hunt for a second bronze in junior men’s individual.

The men’s U18 team of Kushal Dalal, Sahil Chaudhary and Nitin Apar were in fantastic form, shocking the top seeds USA 233-231 in an intriguing contest to bag gold. The Indian trio won the first end narrowly (58-57) and extended their lead by two points by shooting 59 out of 60 in the second end. In the third end, the Indians shot five perfect 10s for a three-point advantage that proved decisive as the USA trio of Sawyer Sullivan, Isaac Sullivan and Nathan Zimmerman failed to overcome the deficit despite winning the fourth end (59-58).

The top-seeded mixed pair of Priya and Dalal then made a clean sweep in the cadet team events, defeating third seed USA 155-152 en route to bagging a third gold.

India are also in line for five more gold and four bronze medals in the recurve section on Sunday.

REPORT: Indians in contention for five compound gold medals and five recurve gold medals at Archery World Youth C’ships