Finance
The Indian men’s and women’s recurve teams earned bronze medals in their respective sections in the Archery World Cup 2023 Stage 4 in Paris, France, at the Olympic Games venue.
On Thursday, the recurve men’s team of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Atanu Das, and Tushar Prabhakar Shelke rallied from behind to defeat the Spanish three of Pablo Acha, Yun Sanchez, and Andres Temino 6-2.
Spain had defeated fourth-seeded USA en route to the last four, but the Indian team proved too strong in Paris circumstances.
Bhajan Kaur, Ankita Bhakat, and Simranjeet Kaur, the women’s recurve team, replicated the feat by winning a bronze medal. They defeated Mexico’s Alejandra Valencia, Angela Ruiz, and Aida Roman in a shoot-off after the teams were tied at 4-4.
The Mexico three took a 4-0 lead, but India caught up and leveled the scores before Bhajan Kaur’s X secured the victory in the shoot-off.
The bronze medal won by India’s men’s team in Paris is the country’s third in the Archery World Cup this year, and the archers praised coach Sergio Pagni in a post-match interview with World Archery’s official website.
“He’s the finest coach, I have seen,” said the seasoned Atanu Das. “[He’s teaching us] how the mindset works, how archers should shoot in tournaments and practice, how can we train and get better day by day.”
“It’s a perfect example of a good archer because he was an archer too. Our government is supporting us very well at the grassroots level, until the elite level all the way.”
“The government support is very important for us, and we have received so many sponsors and opportunities to train abroad,” Das added.
The Indian women’s team fed on the success of the male counterparts to bag bronze.
“We were very motivated to see the men’s team win a bronze before us, so we just followed their footsteps,” Simranjeet Kaur stated, as quoted by the official website.
The Republic of Korea and Chinese Taipei qualified for the men’s and women’s finals, which will be place on Sunday.
Source:IANS
