Archery
Yecheon World Cup: Prathamesh Fuge advances to his first World Cup semis
The Indian compound archers had a disappointing performance at the Yecheon World Cup, with only Prathamesh Fuge making it to the semifinals after the individual elimination rounds.
Prathamesh Fuge was the standout performer for India in what was otherwise a disappointing campaign for the country's compound archers at the Yecheon World Cup in South Korea on Thursday.
He reached the semifinals of the World Cup circuit for the first time.
In the quarterfinals, Prathamesh caused an upset by narrowly defeating former world champion Nico Werner of Austria, 146-145. Werner had recently won the Shanghai World Cup. Earlier, Prathamesh had also claimed a major victory in the round of 16 by edging out the fourth-seeded Emircan Haney of Türkiye, 147-146.
Prathamesh will face James Lutz of the USA in the semifinals on Saturday, aiming for his first-ever World Cup medal. In contrast, experienced archers Abhishek Verma and Rajat Chauhan were eliminated in the second round, continuing their struggles.
Meanwhile, last week's finalist Priyansh lost a close quarterfinal match in a shoot-off against the top-seeded Mathias Fullerton of Denmark. Both archers shot a 10 in the shoot-off, but Fullerton advanced as his arrow was closer to the center.
In the women's compound category, Shanghai World Cup champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam was knocked out of the competition, losing 142-145 to her long-time rival Sara Lopez in the quarterfinals. Parneet Kaur also faced a tough defeat, falling 138-145 to top-seeded South Korean archer Han Seungyeon in her quarterfinal match.
World champion Aditi Swami's struggle for an individual medal continued as she exited in the round of 32, losing 142-145 to Alexis Ruiz of the USA. The final Indian female compound archer, Avneet Kaur, was also eliminated in the second round by Oh Yoohyun of South Korea.
Early exits for recurve teams
The Indian recurve men's and women's teams were eliminated in the round of 16 at the competition. The men's team, consisting of Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Boomadevara, and Mrinal Chauhan, narrowly lost to Canada with a score of 3-5.
Meanwhile, the women's recurve team, made up of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, and Bhajan Kaur, faced a heartbreaking defeat against Vietnam. The match ended in a shoot-off, where the Indian team scored 25 points compared to Vietnam's 27, resulting in a 4-5 loss.
What's Next
The mixed team elimination round for both recurve and compound will commence tomorrow. Additionally, top Indian recurve archers will compete in their respective individual elimination round matches during the afternoon session on May 24th.