India win three golds and two silvers at the Asian Archery Championship

India win three golds and two silvers at the Asian Archery Championship

no photo

Rajat Chauhan and Jyothi Surekha Vennam struck gold in the men's and women's compound events respectively at the 2015 Asian Archery Championship in Bangkok. Apart from these two, India grabbed three more medals in the team events, including a gold in the men's compound team event.

Chauhan had a close encounter in the final against South Korean archer Choi Yong Hee. After being tied at 145:145, the Indian went on to grab the gold by winning the tie-breaker.

On the other hand, Vennam edged out Iran's Afsaneh Shafielavijeh 141:137 to grab her first gold in a senior event at the age of 19. Astonishingly, this was not her first medal in the Asian Championship, having won the bronze medal with the Senior women's compound team back in 2011, at the age of 15.

In the team events, the women's recurve team, which cruised past China in the semi-final with a score of 5:1, failed to repeat their performance against a strong South Korean unit in the final. Eventually, they had to settle for a silver after losing the final 3:5.

The women's compound team faced a similar fate against South Korea in the final, although it was a closely fought affair. India won the silver after losing 232:234.

The Indian compound men's team, which got the better of a tough Iranian side 237:230 in the semi-final, successfully defended the gold they won in the previous edition as they defeated South Korea in an exhilarating final with a score of 234:233. This was India's fourth gold in the event in the last six editions of the Asian Championship.

The day ended on a slightly disappointing note with the India's compound mixed team losing in the third place play-off at the hands of Chinese Taipei 149:152. Earlier on Wednesday, Deepika Kumari and Jayanta Talukdar won the bronze medal in the recurve mixed team event as they defeated their Chinese opponents 37-35, 39-36, 31-39, 36-36.

India failed to top the medal table, like they did in 2013 this time around, as they finished second behind South Korea, which won five golds. However, India maintained its fine run in Archery at global events as they finished with six medals in Bangkok. Last month, Deepika and Abhishek had bagged silver at the World Championship in Mexico.

For the uninitiated, recurve and compound are two different bow designs. A recurve bow has tips that curve away from the archer when the bow is unstrung, while a compound bow is a modern bow that uses a levering system, usually of cables and pulleys, to bend the limbs of the bow.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all