Mixed fortunes for India as recurve duo assures medal

Dhiraj Bommadevara. Pic/AFP

Dhiraj Bommadevara and rising talent Kumkum Mohod assured India of their first medal at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 by storming into the recurve mixed pair final, but the country's Asian Games-focused team selection policy remained under scrutiny after disappointing results in the team events, here on Thursday. While the mixed pair advanced to the gold-medal match against heavyweights South Korea, both the men's and women's recurve teams failed to progress despite favourable qualification rankings.

On Wednesday, the compound men's and women's teams also ended their campaign with the new selection policy coming under the spotlight. The women's team, which had won gold at the previous World Cup stage in Shanghai with Deepika Kumari at the helm, suffered a shock 1-5 quarterfinal defeat to the lower-ranked hosts Turkey. The result once again drew attention to India's decision to field only those archers who were selected for the Asian Games team, irrespective of their qualification results. Under the new policy, four-time Olympian Deepika, who had finished seventh overall and second among Indians in qualification, was left out of the team event as she had not secured a place in the Asian Games squad during last month's trials.

Instead, India fielded Kumkum, Ankita Bhakat and Kirti Sharma, the trio selected for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Kirti had finished 43rd in qualification, the lowest among the quartet, while Ankita was 21st overall. The Indian trio, seeded third, began with a convincing 6-0 win over the Netherlands after receiving a first-round bye because of their higher qualification ranking. But they struggled against the home Turkish team of Elif Gokkir, Dunya Yenihayat, and Canse Duru Tarakci and lost 1-5 in the quarterfinals. India managed just 51 points in the opening set, dropping four arrows into the eight ring, while Turkey shot 55 to take an early lead.

The Indians improved to 56 in the second set but could only split the points after Turkey matched their score. Another below-par 53 in the third set proved decisive as the hosts responded with a superb 58, featuring four perfect 10s, to seal the contest. Deepika, however, kept her individual campaign alive, progressing to the third round along with Kumkum, Ankita, and Kirti. The men's team, on the other hand, were knocked out in the opening round. Olympian Atanu Das, who had finished third among Indians in qualification, was overlooked for the team event because he was not part of the Asian Games-bound team.

In his place, Yashdeep Bhoge -- who was 84th in qualification and the lowest-ranked Indian -- teamed up with Dhiraj and Neeraj Chauhan. The seventh-seeded Indians were knocked out in the opening round by the United States, losing 4-5 after a shoot-off. After the four sets ended level at 4-4, both teams shot 28 in the tie-break, with the Americans advancing on the closest arrow to the centre. Dhiraj and Neeraj stayed alive in the individual competition by reaching the third round, while Atanu and Yashdeep bowed out in the second round.

The debate around the selection policy had already gathered momentum on Wednesday when world No. 8 Rishabh Yadav and former Asian Games medallist Parneet Kaur were left out of the compound team events despite being among the top three Indians in qualification. India eventually failed to win a medal in both the compound team events. The same approach is expected to continue at the World Cup stage 4 in Madrid next month, the last major event before the Asian Games in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya from September 19-October 4.

The day's bright spot, however, came in the recurve mixed team event. Third-seeded Dhiraj and Kumkum fought back after conceding the opening set to defeat Germany's Katharina Bauer and Moritz Wieser 6-2 in the semifinals. After slipping 36-37 in the first set, the Indians responded strongly with scores of 39, 38, and 38, showing excellent consistency and composure to close out the match in four sets. Earlier, they had begun their campaign with a straight-sets victory over Denmark after receiving a bye and then defeated the United States 6-2 in the quarterfinals. The compound mixed team campaign, however, ended in the quarterfinals as Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Sahil Jadhav went down 154-156 to Americans Savannah O'Donohue and Curtis Broadnax.

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