Asian Games Archery: Ojas edges Abhishek for gold in all-Indian final

Archer Pravin Ojas Deotale won the Men's Compound 72 Arrows 50m gold medal, as his compatriot Abhishek Verma settled for the silver at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou on Saturday.

In an all-Indian final, Ojas defeated Abhishek 149-147 to win the gold medal.

This was India's sixth gold medal in archery at the Asian Games 2023 and ninth medal overall as the archers scripted India's best-ever campaign at the quadrennial showpiece. Earlier in the morning, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Aditi Gopichand Swami won gold and bronze medals in women's compound individual events.

In the first set, both Ojas and Abhishek were at par as both hit perfect 10s. At the end of the set, both archers were on equal terms at 30-30.

In the second set, Ojas managed to take a slender lead at 60-59.

The difference grew in the third set when Ahisehek missed the bull's eye as his arrow went wide, and he managed a poor 8. Ojas's lead grew to three points at 90-87.

Though Abhishek managed to reduce Ojas's lead to two points, the Maharashtra archer retained his lead at 119-117 at the end of the fourth set.

As the match headed into the final set, the contest for the gold got intense, with Abishek hitting the bull's eye and Ojas following it up with a perfect 10 to maintain a two-point cushion to emerge the winner.

This was Ojas's third medal at the Asian Games 2023.

Earlier, Ojas, teaming up with Abhishek and Prathamesh Samadhan Jawkar, won the men's compound tea gold medal on Thursday. The Indian team defeated South Korea 235-230.

Ojas also won the compound mixed team gold by pairing up with Jyothi Surekha Vennam.