Abhishek Verma wins individual compound silver at Asian Archery Championships

The Indian archer, Abhishek Verma, has won the silver medal in men's individual compound at the ongoing Asian Archery Championships. He fell to a 149-147 defeat against South Korea's Kim Jongho in the final.

Abhishek Verma started the match on the backfoot, shooting a nine with his second arrow while the South Korean shot a perfect 30 to lead at the end of the first set. Though Kim Jongho slipped to 29 in the second set, the Indian failed to take advantage as he hit a nine and trailed 59-58.

The third and fourth sets saw both the archers relentlessly hitting 10s after 10s as both of them gathered a possible 60 out of 60 and kept the match balanced at a 119-118 lead for the South Korean.

Quite visibly, under pressure, Abhishek Verma faltered with the very first arrow of the final set, but Kim Jongho continued his dream run with yet another perfect 30 to clinch the gold medal having dropped just one point in the final.

Verma had earlier defeated fellow Indian Mohit 147-146 in the semifinal to ensure India of its fourth medal in this edition of the Asian Archery Championships.