Archery WC Final: Prathamesh Jawkar wins silver in men's compound event

HERMOSILLO: Indian archer Prathamesh Jawkar narrowly missed out on a top spot on the podium in the men’s compound event and settled for a silver after going down to Mathias Fullerton of Denmark in the gold medal match at the Archery World Cup Final 2023, here on Saturday.

In a thrilling showdown, the tension reached its peak as the match concluded with an extraordinary 148-148 tie after five sets. In the dramatic shoot-off that followed, both archers showcased their incredible skills by hitting a perfect 10. However, it was Fullerton, who emerged victorious, as his arrow was impeccably closer to the center of the target.

Jawkar's day began with a convincing 149-141 victory against world no.5 Italian Miguel Becerra in the quarterfinal. He then shot a perfect 150 against world No. 1 Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands to beat the second-seeded archer by a point to book his berth in the final.

The Indian has made a big impression in his first season on the Hyundai Archery World Cup tour, winning gold at Shanghai Stage 2 having been seeded 33rd.

Abhishek Verma, the men’s compound archer to win a silver at the Archery World Cup Final in 2015, missed out on a medal after losing the bronze medal match 149-150 to the Schloesser.

Verma produced his best performance of the day in the bronze medal playoff against Schloesser, scoring 149 points in five sets. However, the Dutch emerged victorious having shot a perfect 150.

In the women’s compound event, reigning world champion Aditi Gopichand Swami suffered an upset in the quarterfinals against Dane Tanja Gellenthien. After the scores were level at 145 in five sets, Gellenthien progressed to the semifinals with a 10-9 win in the tie-breaker.

Jyothi Surekha Vennam, who was part of the team that won gold medal at the world championships in Berlin earlier this year, also bowed out in the last eight after losing 144-149 to defending champion Sara Lopez of Colombia, who went on to win her eighth world title, beating Tanja Gellenthien in the final.

Dhiraj Bommadevara, India’s only representative in recurve discipline at the World Cup Final, will be in action on Sunday.