Men settle for silver in recurve team event

India clinched a silver medal in the men’s recurve team event at the Archery World Cup Stage 1 after the trio of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Atanu Das went down 1-5 to China in the final here on Sunday.

This was India’s third medal of the season-opening event, with a fourth still in sight as Dhiraj remained in contention in the men’s recurve individual event.

India had secured a gold in the compound mixed team event and a bronze in compound men’s team. Abhishek Verma narrowly missed out on a podium, finishing fourth in the compound men’s individual section.

In the recurve team gold medal clash, both India and China began evenly, sharing the first set 1-1 with identical scores of 54.

The Indian trio had two 10s and two 9s, but faltered with a pair of 8s that proved costly.

The Chinese team of Li Zhongyuan, Kao Wenchao, and Wang Yan stepped up in the second set, hitting four 10s to take a 3-1 lead. India, meanwhile, again slipped into the red ring with another 8, losing the set 55-58.

Needing to win the third set to stay alive, the Indian team once again stumbled, managing only 54 as China edged them out by one point to seal the gold medal. China also bagged the bronze.

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