PIX: Vennam leads India's gold haul at Archery World Cup

India also win men's, women's, team compound gold medals

Jyothi Surekha Vennam spearheaded India's dominance with a rare hat-trick of gold medals as the compound archers lapped up five medals in the ongoing Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai on Saturday.

The Asian Games champion, ranked world No. 3, fought past tournament top seed Andrea Becerra of Mexico in a tight shoot-off finish 146-146 (9*-9) to become the second Indian after Deepika Kumari to secure triple gold medals in a World Cup.

Three-time Olympian and former world No. 1 Deepika achieved the incredible feat at the Paris World Cup Stage 3 in June 2021.

For Jyothi, it also matched her feat at last year's Hangzhou Asian Games, where the 27-year-old Vijayawada archer returned with three gold medals from the individual, women's team and mixed team events.

Youngster Priyansh capped India's spectacular outing in the compound section, by bagging his maiden World Cup medal in the form of a silver in the men's individual section.

In his second Cup appearance, the 21-year-old found himself up against a formidable opponent in 2021 World champion Nico Wiener, who delivered a flawless performance, scoring a perfect 150 out of a maximum 150.

The 27-year-old Austrian shot all 10s from 15 arrows to edge out the spirited Indian by three points.

Earlier, in the morning session, India's archers underlined their supremacy in non-Olympic compound archery, bagging three gold medals to make a clean sweep of the team events.

Vennam, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur dropped just four points while trouncing Italy 236-225 in the women's compound team event to open the country’s account with a gold in the season-opening global showpiece.

The men's team of Abhishek Verma, Priyansh and Prathamesh Fuge then went a step better as they missed just two points en route to defeating the Netherlands' Mike Schloesser, Sil Pater and Stef Willems 238-231.

The mixed team completed the sweep when second-seeded Jyothi and Abhishek warded off a late resurgence from their Estonian rivals -- Lisell Jaatma and Robin Jaatma -- to prevail 158-157 in a thrilling finish.

This was a double gold medal for the reigning Asian Games champion Jyothi, who is also in the hunt for an individual gold and will play her semi-final later in the day.

Priyansh is also in the hunt for an individual medal in the compound segment.

Medal rounds in the recurve section will be on Sunday and India are eyeing two gold from the Olympic discipline.

The Indian men's team will take on Olympic champions South Korea in the gold medal clash.

Deepika Kumari is in the fray for an individual medal and will take on a South Korean opponent in the semi-finals of the women's recurve section.

The women's compound team, which qualified as top seeds, dropped just four points from 24 arrows to down sixth seeded Italy in the first match of the day.

In the first three ends of six arrows each, Jyothi, Aditi and Parneet missed the perfect 10 only twice to take a handsome 178-171 lead over Marcella Tonioli, Irene Franchini and Elisa Roner.

In the fourth end, the Indians dropped two points but it hardly mattered as they nailed the gold by an 11-point margin.

The men's team, which qualified as fourth seeds, put up a near flawless show to defeat their Dutch opponents.

They began with a perfect round of 60 and dropped just two points in the next two ends, before sealing the win with another perfect 60 in the final set of six arrows.

In the compound mixed team event, Jyothi and Abhishek took a three-point lead, starting off with a perfect round of 40.

The three-point drop in the first end proved decisive for Estonian archers who went on to shoot three perfect rounds of 40 each but the Indians held their nerves to seal the issue.

Leading 119-117, the Indian duo needed a minimum score of 39 points out of a maximum 40 in the final end. They did just that to wrap up the country's third gold.