-Olympics
Teenager Parneet Kaur got the better of the seasoned Jyothi Surekha Vennam to win the gold medal in the women’s compound archery event at the Asian Archery Championships 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday.
The 18-year-old defeated Jyothi Surekha Vennam 9-8 in the shoot-off after both archers were tied at 145 at the end of five sets.
Earlier in the semi-finals, Parneet Kaur defeated Kazakhstan’s Lyan Viktoriya 147-145. Kaur finished fourth in the qualifying round. Meanwhile, Jyothi Surekha Vennam ousted Chinese Taipei’s Huang I-Jou 148-145 in the semi-finals. She was third in the qualifying round. World champion Aditi Swami topped the qualification but suffered an upset in the third round.
However, the trio of Parneet Kaur, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Aditi Swami claimed the gold medal in the women’s compound team event with a 234-233 win over Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yi Hsuan, Huang I-Jou and Wang Lu-Yun in the final.
The 17-year-old Aditi Swami also won the gold medal in the mixed compound team event alongside U21 world champion Priyansh. The Indian duo defeated Thailand’s Kanoknapus Kaewchomphu and Lertruangsilp Nawayut 156-151 in the gold medal match.
Abhishek Verma, the Asian Games 2018 champion and silver medallist at Hangzhou 2023, settled for the bronze medal with a narrow 147-146 win over Joo Jaehoon of the Republic of Korea. Verma lost to Andrey Tyutyun of Kazakhstan in the semi-finals.
The five medals won by India on Thursday took the country’s tally to seven — three gold, one silver and three bronze — at the Asian championships in Bangkok.
The Indian women’s recurve and men’s compound teams won bronze medals on Wednesday.
The Asian Archery Championships 2023 was also an Olympic qualifier for Indian recurve archers. Though the Indian women’s recurve team won the bronze medal, only the gold medal-winning team per gender earned the Paris 2024 Olympics quotas in archery. The Indian men’s recurve team was ousted in the quarter-finals.
The Asian Archery Championships will be followed by the Asian individual Olympic qualifiers for archery at the same venue, from November 9 to 12. The individual qualifiers will have two Olympic quotas (one per country) on offer in each of the men’s and women’s recurve archery events.
Asian Archery Championships 2023: Indian medal winners
- Parneet Kaur (women’s compound) – Gold medal
- Aditi Swami, Priyansh (mixed compound) – Gold medal
- Parneet Kaur, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swami (women’s compound team) – Gold medal
- Jyothi Surekha Vennam (women’s compound) – Silver medal
- Abhishek Verma (men’s compound) – Bronze medal
- Tisha Punia, Bhajan Kaur, Ankita Bhakat (women’s recurve team) – Bronze medal
- Abhishek Verma, Prathamesh Fuge, Priyansh (men’s compound team) – Bronze medal
Featured Image: ESPN India