Grand double for India, bag men's and women's team compound gold medals

PARIS: On a historic day for archery in the country, India claimed a grand double with the men's and women's compound teams winning gold medals in Stage 4 of the Archery World Cup Paris, on Saturday.

It was the women's compound team that started the day on a bright note it won gold in the team competition as Parneet Kaur, Aditi Gopuchand Swami and Jyothi Surekha Vennam defeated Mexico in a rematch of their World Championship final, prevailing 234-233.

India’s memorable day then continued in the compound men’s team gold medal match as Ojas Pravin Deotale, Prathamesh Samadhan Jawkar and Abhishek Verma surprised favourites USA, 236-232 in the final.

In the women's compound team final, the Indian trio of Parneet, Aditi and Jyothi was a point behind Mexico going into the final end but shot 59 to overhaul Andrea Becerra, Ana Sofia Hernandez Jeon and Dafne Quintero.

The Mexicans were searching for their second World Cup gold of the season but were forced to settle for silver, just as they were in Berlin earlier this month.

A victorious Vennam said: “This is the second time we’ve won gold as a team, and we feel amazing.”

“Winning back-to-back medals for the country gives us a lot of confidence because we also have a major tournament -– the Asian Games – coming up, so it is a big boost for us. It also motivates us to practice even harder.” India’s high-performance director, Sanjeeva Singh, was visibly emotional and added: “It’s very special for me because I brought compound to this level [in India]. It took me three years to convince everybody that we could do compound. So, for me, all my work is paying off.” In the men's compound team final, there was nothing to separate India and USA as they headed -into the final end, which began at 176-176.

At this juncture Deotale, Jawkar and Verma peaked, combining for a perfect end of 60. USA’s trio of Kris Schaff, James Lutz and Sawyer Sullivan could only respond with a 56 to see India take the top spot.

“Last year I also got a gold medal here, so I’m happy,” said Verma, referring to his compound mixed team triumph alongside Vennam in 2022.

“This is my fourth time receiving a gold medal in the men’s team and the team is pretty strong. Now we can see that the whole of the world is [getting better] so you cannot really predict who will win. It’s just a margin, a single-point game now,” Verma added.

Saturday’s results mean that eight different nations have won gold in as many events across the compound men’s and women’s team competitions across the Archery World Cup season so far.