Atanu Das, Dhiraj Bommadevara, and Tarundeep Rai, three members of the Indian men’s recurve team, took home the silver medal at Stage 1 of the Archery World Cup 2023 on Sunday in Antalya, Turkey.
The Chinese three Li Zhongyuan, Qi Xiangshuo, and Wei Shaoxuan defeated the Indian trio 4-5 in the championship match. India fell in the first two sets but came back to win the following two, tying the match at 4-4. In the fifth and final set, both teams were knotted at 28-28, prompting a shoot-out that the Chinese team won because Li’s first shot landed closest to the middle, as per Olympics.com. The fourth-seeded Indian men’s recurve archery team overcame the Netherlands, Chinese Taipei, Italy, and Japan to advance to the final.
Later same day, Dhiraj Bommadevara won the bronze medal in the men’s individual recurve competition by defeating Kazakhstan’s Ilfat Abdullin 7-3.
Dhiraj Bommadevara, who represented India in the semi-finals on Sunday, was defeated by Moldova’s Dan Olaru by a score of 6-4 to advance to the bronze medal match. Dhiraj blew a 4-0 lead at one point but recovered later.
Dhiraj Bommadevara overcame senior compatriots Tarundeep Rai and Brady Ellison, a former world champion and Olympic medalist, to advance to the semifinals.
India finished Turkey’s meet with four medals–two gold, one silver, and one bronze–after winning the two medals on Sunday.
Both of the gold medals that India won on Saturday were a result of Jyothi Surekha Vennam. She finished first in the women’s individual compound event and won the compound team event with Ojas Pravin Deotale.
Archery World Cup 2023 Stage 1 Antalya: India’s medal winners
-Jyothi Surekha Vennam – gold in women’s individual compound
-Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Ojas Pravin Deotale – gold in compound mixed team
-Atanu Das, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Tarundeep Rai – silver in men’s recurve team
-Dhiraj Bommadevara – bronze in men’s individual