Archery World Cup: Jyothi wins first ever individual gold in event, bags mixed title with Ojas too

Jyothi Surekha Vennam capped a stunning week in Turkey with her first ever individual gold medal at a World Cup Stage. She defeated Colombian legend Sara Lopez in the final on Saturday, shooting a superb 149 out of 150 on Saturday to clinch the gold medal and seal a spot in the season finale.

Earlier in the day, the Indians won their first medal at the Antalya Archery World Cup 2023 stage 1 when Jyothi and Ojas Pravin Deotale won gold in the mixed team compound event.

Jyothi and Ojas dominated the final against Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yi-Hsuan and Chen Chieh-Lun, shooting a perfect 40 in three of the four ends and nearly breaking the world record.

From their 16 arrows, the Indian pair shot 15 10s, including 12 perfects Xs, and one nine to win 159-154.

Jyothi and Ojas took a handy lead after the first two ends with identical 40-38 scores and shared the third end with the Chinese Taipei pair 40-40.

With the gold medal all but secured, Ojas shot a 9 with his final arrow as the pair fell agonisingly short of the world record set by South Korea’s So Chaeowon and Kim Jongho at the same tournament in 2018.

The South Korean pair’s world record score of a perfect 160 includes eight Xs. Had Ojas shot a 10, the Indian pair would have smashed the record having shot an astonishing 12 Xs from their 16 arrows.

A stunning week for Jyothi

The week ended in perfect fashion for Jyothi as she climbed the top of the podium with two huge wins in the individual event. In the semifinal, she defeated Great Britain’s Ella Gibson.

Gibson is the world No 1 in compound archery and had beaten Jyothi to win gold at the Paris World Cup stage 3 last year. But the Indian got the better of her opponent on Saturday, winning 148-146. She stepped it up a notch in the final against the legendary Lopez, shooting 149 and winning by three points.

Earlier in the week, Jyothi had equalled Lopez’s qualification world record by shooting 713 out of 720.

With this win, she is guaranteed a spot in the season-ending World Cup Final in September as a stage winner.

“I’m actually short of words,” the 26-year-old told World Archery. “I’m really happy and thankful to many people. I won this but there are so many people behind me.”

“This is the first tournament of the season and we have World Cup stages lined up, World Championships, Asian Games and my first appearance in World Cup Finals.”

“I’m really excited and looking forward to all of these tournaments.”

On Sunday:

Recurve men’s team final, India vs China: 1.10 pm IST

Recurve men’s individual final four, Dhiraj Bommadevara: 5.45 pm IST

Telecast / streaming in India on Sony Sports Network