Archery World Cup Stage 1: Indian compound men's team win gold

The Indian men's compound archery team comprising Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan and Aman Saini pulled off a stellar performance at the ongoing Archery World Cup Stage 1 event in Antalya, Turkey to bag the gold medal in the finals, defeating France, 232-230. 

Up against the French team which had Jean Philippe Boulch, Quentin Baraer and Adrien Gontier, the Frenchmen started off with a lead in the team event at 57-56 at End 1. By End 2, the French team increased the margin by four points and maintained the lead before the Indian men's squad settled their nerves and pulled off a comeback.

In End 4, the Indian team scored a perfect 60 while the French side managed a 58 and that is what made the difference. In fact, the final was very narrowly won and was a thriller till the last arrow was unleashed.

In the final End, France did not get the desired start and scored three 9's whereas India, on a momentum, notched three back-to-back 10s to edge closer to the gold medal.

With a gold in the bag for India, the compound mixed pair duo of  Abhishek Verma and Muskan Kirar also went up against Croatia in the bronze medal clash but couldn't capitalise and lost 156-157.

On Sunday as well, India's recurve mixed team pair of Tarundeep Rai and Ridhi Phor will feature in the finals and vie for gold after having defeated Spain in the semis, 5-3.

Interestingly, compound archery is not a part of the Olympics yet and differs from the rest by virtue of the bow used here, which is more mechanical than the recurve bow.