Indian archer Komalika Bari is into the finals of the Youth World Championships

Promising Indian archer Komalika Bari, who is the reigning under-18 recurve world champion, remained in hunt for a successive title at under-21 level by sailing into the final of the Youth World Championships here on Thursday.

In the compound section, Priya Gurjar and Sakshi Chaudhary led the show in the cadet and junior competition to advance to their respective finals. Overall, India assured themselves five medals in the biennial meet, while they also remained in line for two bronze medals.

Returning to the junior age group two years after she became cadet world champion in Madrid, Komalika dropped two sets before beating Casey Kaufhold of USA 6-4 (28-27, 25-28, 28-26, 25-30, 29-25).

The sixth seed Komalika will take on fourth seed Elia Canales of Spain on Sunday in her bid to become junior world champion and emulate the feat of Deepika Kumari. World number one Deepika is the only Indian to have won successive cadet and junior titles (in Ogden 2009 and Legnica 2011).

"I will try to get the gold medal to have a complete collection. I feel ready to fight for it in the final," the Jamshedpur-born Tata Archery Academy archer said. The 19-year-old, who is also part of the Indian senior team, described her five-setter win over the Tokyo Olympics-returned American as a tough one.

"It was a very close match and she is really strong. She has just come from the Olympics in Tokyo. She is a great archer."

Having got two byes, Komalika defeated Japanese Juri Shibuya 6-4, Kazakh Ziyodakhon Abdusattarova 6-0 and Mao Watanbe of Japan 6-5 (8-7) in the shoot-off to make the last-four.

In the compound junior women's individual section, eighth seed Sakshi pipped American Anna Scarbrough 144-142 to set up a final clash against Amanda Mlinaric of Croatia. Palton Hasda (Merida 2006) was the last Indian to win a junior world title in the compound section.

Anna, who got a first-round bye, defeated Kazakh Aizhan Seidakhmetova 142-141, Iranian Bita Asheghzadeh Oskouei 147-142 and Mexican Dafne Quintero 147-145, to enter the final. Rishabh, who lost to Robin Jaamta of Estonia 147-146 in the compound junior men's individual semi-final, will take on Sebastian Garcia of Mexico in the bronze play-off.

In the compound cadet girls section, Priya, who topped the qualification en route to breaking the team world record, knocked out Hallie Boulton of Great Britain 149-140 to set up a final clash with Selene Rodriguez of Mexico.

Priya opened her campaign with a 142-137 win over Chyler Sanders and then eliminated Adriana Castillo of Mexico 143-141 in a tight contest. In the last-eight, she overcame Nehir Sarihan of Turkey 144-141. Priya's teammate, Parneet Kaur, who was seeded third, lost to Selene Rodriguez.

She will fight for a bronze medal against Hallie. Priya also remained in line for a double as she along with Dalal Kaushal, who got a top-billing in the cadet mixed pair, edged out their Mexican rivals 154-150 to move into the final where they will meet the third-seeded USA.

Priya and Kaushal, who got a first-round bye, ousted Hong Kong 156-153 in round two and defeated Slovenia 153-147 in the last eight. India secured a fifth medal when recurve cadet mixed team of Tamanna and Bishal Changmai blanked Spain in straight sets to book a gold medal clash with Japan.

Having got a bye into the second round, the third seeded Indian pair started off by ousting Iran 5-4 (18-17) in shootoff, before getting the better of the USA 6-2 in the quarters.