Topped qualification rounds, joint world record scores, and an all-win elimination round day — Indian archers have made a positive start to their Asian Games campaign.
They beat Kazakhstan 159-154 in the quarter-finals after beating Mongolia with a whopping score of 160. The mixed event, in fact, is turning out to be an extremely high-scoring affair in Aichi-Nagoya, with the South Korea and Kazakh pairs also shooting 160 on Sunday. The trio of Jyothi, Chikitha and Prithika Pradeep shot a world record equalling score of 238 to thrash Mongolia in the Round of 16. They returned for a much tighter quarter-final contest where they edged past Kazakhstan 233-230.
India will take on Thailand in the semi-finals. In the compound team events, the Indian women were on fire. Their next challenge will be a step up: South Korea in the semi-finals.
The men in recurve were also dominant, going past China 5-1 in the quarter-finals after beating the Philippines with the same margin. The recurve women, which also features two debutants in Kumkum and Kirti teaming up with Olympian Ankita Bhakat, will have China waiting in the semi-final, after they breezed past Chinese Taipei (6-0) in the quarter-final and Mongolia (6-0). The compound men’s team too will battle with the South Koreans in the last four after defeating Bhutan 235-232 in the quarter-final and UAE 235-215 in the pre-quarters.
A lot will depend on how Dhiraj can lead this group at the business end, starting with Iran in the semi-final. The team features Dhiraj, who topped the qualification round ahead of the Koreans on Saturday and enters the Asian Games with a World Cup Final gold, alongside debutants Sanjay Bhoge and Neeraj Chauhan.
