Rhine-Ruhr, Essen (Germany), Jul 26 (PTI) Sahil Jadhav produced a near-flawless performance under pressure to clinch the men’s compound individual gold as Indian archers wrapped up their World University Games campaign with an impressive haul of five medals here on Saturday.
With a mixed team gold, men’s team silver, women’s team bronze, and two individual medals — Jadhav’s gold and Parneet’s silver — India concluded their archery campaign at the Games on a high, showcasing depth and promise in compound events.
The impressive show by the compound archers also made up for the flop show by the Olympic discipline recurve archers who drew a blank.
Jadhav, who shot 14 perfect 10s before dropping a single point with his final arrow, edged out Great Britain’s Ajay Scott 149-148 in a thrilling gold medal match.
The Indian held his nerve despite Scott opening with three Xs (10-point arrow closer to the centre), maintaining a flawless streak until the final arrow of the fifth end.
Jadhav had earlier reached the final after a nail-biting all-Indian semifinal, where he got the better of Kushal Dalal in a shoot-off after both archers were tied 148-148.
The deciding arrow saw Jadhav shoot a 10* (closer to centre), which edged Dalal’s 10.
Dalal, however, endured heartbreak in the bronze medal match, going down 148-150 to Poland’s Przemysław Konecki, who shot a perfect round of 15 arrows to seal the third-place finish.
In the women’s compound section, reigning Asian Games team gold medalist Parneet settled for silver after a narrow 146-147 defeat against South Korea’s Moon Yeeun in a high-intensity final.
Parneet, who had topped the qualification round, started strong and shot flawlessly in the first two ends (three arrows each), opening up a two-point lead against her third seed rival.
However, she lost momentum in the third end, dropping two points as Moon stepped up with a perfect round of 30 to draw level.
There was no looking back for the Korean thereafter as Moon shot another flawless round of three 10s in the fourth end to gain a one-point lead.
That meant Parneet needed a perfect score in the final end to keep her hopes alive for the gold. But despite scoring an impressive 29, Moon matched her with another 29 to seal the title 147-146.
Earlier in the semifinals, Parneet edged fifth seed Kim Sooyeon of South Korea by just one point (145-144) in a tense contest.
She began with a perfect round of 30 to take a one-point lead, and extended it to two points in the second end (58-56).
A third successive perfect round gave her a four-point cushion as Kim managed only 28.
However, Parneet slipped in the fourth end, shooting 28 to Kim’s perfect 30, reducing the lead to two.
In the final end, Kim again shot 30, but Parneet’s 29 was just enough to hold on for a one-point win and book a final clash with Moon. PTI TAP AM AT AT AT
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