India showed its excellence in the field of archery by securing eight medals in the 2022 Asia Cup World– two gold and six silver– at the Surakhun Stadium, on Saturday.

The team India sent for this tournament is young and ambitious. The men’s recurve team comprising national champion Parth Salunkhe, Rahul Nagarwal, and Dhiraj Bommadevara made amends by winning a team gold after drawing a blank in individual events.

The Indian men’s recurve team defeated Kazakhstan 6-2 in the final to clinch the gold medal. On the other hand, the 19-year-old compound archer Sakshi Chaudhary, who won silver at the World Youth Championships last year, defeated compatriot Parneet Kaur 142-140 for the yellow metal.

Although India won two gold medals, the contingent will rue the missed opportunities having lost in the other five finals in a depleted field without heavyweights South Korea, China, Japan, and Chinese Taipei.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh won three gold medals.

The Indian women’s recurve team of Ridhi, Tisha Punia, and Tanisha Verma lost to Bangladesh in the final 4-5 and settled for silver. Only four teams competed in the event. The Indian team had outscored hosts Thailand 6-2 in the semi-final. In the mixed team event final, Ridhi and Parth Salunkhe also lost to Bangladesh 3-5.

The Indian men’s and women’s compound teams narrowly missed out in the summit clash.

While Rishab Yadav, Priyansh, and Prathamesh Jawkar lost to Kazakhstan 232-233, the women’s team of Sakshi Chaudhary, Pragati, and 15-year-old Aditi Gopichand Swami lost to Thailand 230-231.

In other individual events, Rishabh Yadav missed two arrows in the men’s compound final against Iran’s Mohammadsaleh Palizban to lose 126-145.

In an eight-man field, Rishabh Yadav, who is seeded second, defeated Bangladesh’s Nawaz Ahmed Rakib 148-144 and Iran’s Sayed Kowsar 148-145 to make it to the final. Men’s compound archer Prathamesh Jawkar and women’s recurve archer Tisha Punia, also lost their bronze medal play-offs.

Notably, big names like Atanu Das, Deepika Kumari, Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav, and Abhishek Verma were not competing in this event.

(With inputs from IANS)