Muristek
Gwangju (S Korea), May 19
The Indian women archers won a team bronze in the recurve section to take their medal tally to three at the World Cup Stage 2 here today.
On a day when the men lost to the lower-ranked France in the quarterfinals, the young trio of Ridhi Phor, Komalika Bari and Ankita Bhakat defeated the team from Chinese Taipei 6-2 (56-52 54-51 54-55 55-54) in a one-sided bronze medal playoff.
Putting up a consistent show, the trio drilled in three perfect 10s and eight 9s from the first 12 arrows to cruise to a 4-0 lead.
Two arrows in the inner red circle, earning them eight points each, cost them the third set but they bounced back strongly in the fourth to wrap it up with one X and five 9s.
The Indian team had to fight for bronze after they lost out to their nemesis and home favourites South Korea 2-6 (53-55 57-55 51-53 43-53) in the semifinals.
It wasn't as if the top-seeded South Koreans had shot great scores, but the Indian women choked under pressure. They were at their inconsistent worst and the only time they could raise their game was in the second set in which they had a spectacular show of four 10s, including one X and one 9.
But in the fourth set, they misfired an arrow, while another shot in the red-ring (7) snuffed out any chance of a fight, even as the Koreans totalled an ordinary 53.
Earlier, a new-look men's team which had the experienced duo of Tarundeep Rai and Jayanta Talukdar along with debutant Neeraj Chauhan capped a disastrous outing to lose out to the 15th-seeded France 2-6 (54-57 55-52 53-55 47-53).
The seventh-seeded men's team had two 8s in the first set and put up an improved show to win the second. However, they slipped again and were eliminated in the fourth set in which they shot twice in the red rings (8-7) and once in the blue-ring (6).