Indian compound archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam finished with three silver medals to her name at the World Championships in Yankton, USA on Saturday, adding the individual event second-place finish to the same in women’s team and mixed team events.
Jyothi lost a nerve-wracking final to Colombian superstar Sara Lopez to clinch a silver in the compound women’s individual section.
The 25-year-old Indian was at her best and shot a perfect final end of 30 but the five-time World Cup champion Sara was superior through the final to clinch the issue by two points (146-144).
For Jyothi, this was her third silver medal at the 2021 World Championships. She has taken her total number of medals to six at the World Championships overall. Jyothi had bagged a team silver (Mexico 2017) and a team bronze (Den Bosch 2019) previously. In 2019, she had also bagged an individual bronze medal.
In the quarterfinal on Saturday, Jyothi shot a perfect 150 out of 150 in her win against junior world champion Amanda Mlinaric.
“It’s been a great day today because I’ve shot my first 150 in an international tournament and I’m super happy. I’m also happy because last time I won the bronze and this time I won the silver, so I’m happy,” said Jyothi according to World Archery.
Earlier on Friday, Jyothi was a member of the Indian women’s and mixed pair compound archery teams which signed off with silver medals. Those defeats came against Sara Lopez-led Colombia too.
India were in pursuit of their first ever gold medal at the world event. For a country that doesn’t have a gold yet, India have climbed the most podiums at the event, appearing in nine finals and leaving with silver each time.
In the final against Lopez, Jyothi dished out a consistent display shooting 28, 29 and 29 in her first three ends, but the Colombian top seed opened up a two-point lead at the halfway mark, drilling in seven perfect 10s with two X (closest to the centre) from nine arrows.
The sixth seeded Indian shot three 10s from three arrows in the final end but that was not enough as Lopez wrapped up an emotional gold medal match by two points.
Jyothi, however, upgraded the bronze medal she had won two years ago, as the Andhra archer concluded her campaign with three silver medals.
The star Indian mixed pair duo of Abhishek Verma and Jyothi, who stood fourth in the ranking round, started off with a one-point lead but thereafter it was a story of Colombian dominance. The Indians went down by a four-point margin (150-154). The seventh seeded women’s team of Jyothi, Muskan Kirar and Priya Gurjar, on the other hand, lost by a margin of five points (224-229) against the troika of Sara Lopez, Alejandra Usquiano and Nora Valdez.
For Colombia, it reasserted their supremacy in compound archery taking their all-time gold medal count at the World Championships to four, reported PTI. It was, however, Lopez’s first individual world championship gold, to go with her multiple gold medals in World Cup.
Lter in the day, in the men’s individual compound event, Abhishek Verma lost in a high scoring quarterfinal against word No 1 Mike Schloesser 147-148.
India are in contention for one more medal. Ankita Bhakat is the lone archer in fray in the recurve competition and she will compete in her last-eight match on Sunday.
Ankita Bhakat, who was the lone recurve archer in contention for a medal, made a quarterfinal exit going down to Casey Kaufhold of the USA 6-2 in the women’s individual event.
(With PTI inputs)
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