World Archery Youth C'Ship: Indian Compound Cadet Women's defeats Turkey to bag gold medal

The Indian Compound Cadet Women's team has bagged a gold in the World Archery Youth Championship. The Under-18 all-women archery team defeated Turkey by 228-216 in the final on August 14, Saturday. The final event was held in Wroclaw, Poland, where the girls aced the game.

The Indian Compound Cadet Women's team was comprised of Priya Gurjar, Parneet Kaur, Ridhu Senthilkumar, Komalika Bari, and Kushal Dalal. The compound archery and mixed teams reached the finals on August 12 after the qualifying stages of the World Archery Youth Championship. During the semi-finals, the girls smashed two junior (U-18) world records. Priya Gurjar, along with Parnito Cowl and Ridhu Senthilkumar scored 696 points on their personal poles, ANI reported. Following the newly set bar, the current world record is 2067/2160, 22 points more than the previously set 2045/2160 points. “I’m really happy, but I can shoot more than today,” World Archery quoted Gurjar. “My goal is to win the title of World Champion and I will do my best to achieve it," Gurjar told at WorldArchery Forum that day.

India remained a strong contender 

With a dashing combination of Priya and Kushal, India crushed Turkey with a whopping lead. Even at the semi-finals. Priya and Kushal achieved a mixed total score of 1401, leaving Turkey at 1396 and United States at 1390. The mixed teams' score surpassed the Danish combination of Natacha Shutz and Mathias Fullerton (1387) at the 2019 World Archery Youth Championship held in Madrid. Gurjar narrowly missed the individual gold to Seline Rodriguez by 3 points (139-136). While Gurjar bagged the silver, Parneet won a bronze medal by defeating Hallie Boulton of Great Britain at 140-135.

The boys also fared well at the World Archery Youth Championship. Archers Kushal Dalal, Sahil Chaudhury and Nitin Apar also toppled the USA by 3 points. They won the first end by 58-57 and extended their lead in the second half by 59-60. The boys shot five perfect tens for a 3 point advantage in the third end, defeating Sawyer Sullivan, Isaac Sullivan, and Nathan Zimmerman of the USA.

With inputs from ANI and PTI

Image: @SAI/Twitter