Assam’s Jayanta Talukdar, Tushar Shelke and Mrinal Chauhan were part of the Indian archery contingent that ensured four medals on Tuesday by advancing to all four team event finals in the recurve and compound sections in the Asia Cup Stage 2 World Ranking Tournament in Tashkent.
The top-seeded Indian men’s recurve team consisting of Mrinal Chauhan, Tushar Shelke and Jayanta Talukdar defeated hosts Uzbekistan’s Chen Yao Yuy, Mirjalol Karorov and Amirkhan Sadikov 6-0 (56-54, 57-54, 56-53) in the semifinal round.
They had started off with a 6-0 win (54-49, 58-48, 53-45) over Kyrgyzstan. With their win, the men’s recurve team has set up a final against rivals from China for the gold medal to take place on Friday.
Meanwhile, the recurve women’s team comprising of Sangeeta, Prachi Singh and Tanisha Verma defeated Uzbekistan in a close encounter. At the end of the tiebreaker, they emerged victorious 5-4 (53-54, 56-49, 52-50, 52-54, 26*-26).
The Indian women’s recurve team had defeated Saudi Arabia 6-0 (50-40, 54-47, 49-45) in the quarters. Indian women’s team will also face China in the women’s recurve final.
Elsewhere, the top-seeded compound men’s team of Abhishek Verma Kushal Dalal and Amit, who had got a bye into the semi-final, defeated Saudi Arabia 236-221 to enter the final. They will take on Hong Kong in the gold medal clash to take place on Friday.
The compound women’s team of Parneet Kaur, Pragati and Raginee Markoo already entered the final after topping the qualification round and they will take on Hong Kong for the gold.
It may be noted that with no participants from heavyweights Korea, it's a depleted field at the Asia Cup Stage 2. India have sent their second-string side for the continental showpiece.
