The Indian men’s compound archery team of Rajat Chauhan, Aman Saini, and Abhishek Verma narrowly lost the gold in a dramatic final shoot-off against top seeds Korea in the final at the Asian Games on Tuesday.
India thought they had clinched gold after Korea were 227 to India’s 229 at the end of 24 shots but the scores were revised to make it level 229-229. In the ensuing shoot-off, the scores were once again tied at 29-29, however Korea were declared the winners. According to archery rules, if both teams are tied on score in a shootoff, the arrow of the mixed team that measures closest to the centre of the target wins the match.
India, the defending gold medalists from 2014 Incheon Asiad, started with a perfect 60 to Korea’s 56 after the first six shots. However, the second end was not among the best of rounds for young Saini who shot 8 and 9 as India dropped 6 points thereby erasing their lead.
The scores were then tied as 114-114 after 12 arrows and 143-143 after 15 shots. India were back ahead after the third end leading 172-170 after 18 arrows and maintained that to lead 201-198 after the 21 shots. After the final three shots, India had the win in the bag and lead 229-227. However, the scores were revised and the match went into a shoot-off.
With this, both the men and women’s compound teams won the silver, losing to Korea in the final.
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