Archery World Cup: Jyothi Surekha Vennam equals qualifying World Record

Powered by Jyothi’s joint world record score, the Indian women’s team grabbed the top seeding ahead of Mexico as the two sides got a first-round bye and will open their campaign in the quarters.

The 2021 World Championships silver medallist landed the arrow on target an incredible 66 times out of the 72 shots to match Sara Lopez’s world record score that she had achieved during the 2015 Colombian National selections.

Having totalled 353 in the first six rounds, the Telangana archer was on target especially at the fag end as she shot 360 out of 360 en route smashing a six-year-old Asian record.

South Korean archer So Chaewon held the previous Asian record qualifying score in the women’s compound section, shooting 709 at the 2017 Asian Championships in Dhaka.

“I never expected it, because my personal best in a competition was 710. And this is my best score,” Jyothi said. “Actually, I shot a liner arrow in the last end and I wasn’t sure, but behind me the Great Britain’s coach told me, ‘No, it’s a ten and you shot great’.

“It does feel great (to be the top seed) and I’m pretty happy with my shooting. Until the last arrow I was just focused on my process. For now, I want to focus on my shooting, so I can maintain my scores and everything.”

World No. 3 Sara was three points adrift of Jyothi and finished third.

Making her World Cup debut, Aditi Swami shot a 700 to be ranked 15th, while Avneet Kaur (699) completed India’s performance with a 19th place finish in the qualifying round.

In the absence of multiple World Cup gold medallist Abhishek Verma, who could not qualify, the compound men archers struggled.

Twenty-year-old debutant Ojas Deotale was the best among the Indians, securing a 17th place finish with 709 points. Veteran Rajat Chauhan and Prathamesh Jawkar were the next best Indians at the 29th and 30th spots, respectively.