Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
Indian Junior archers gave a heartwarming display of their talent as they bagged 7 medals including 3 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals at the Asia Cup World Ranking Archery Stage-1 which concluded in Bangkok on Monday.
18 years old – Muskan Kirar performed exceedingly well, winning four medals- two Golds, one silver and one bronze medal. She emerged “Individual Champion” in Compound women category by registering a victory over Malaysian Archer by 147 Vs 142. After defeating Thailand Archer in pre-quarter final in a tie-breaker (143 -143). She gained incredible confidence and defeated archer from Bangladeshi (144-141) in quarter final and Iran (146-144) in semi-final.
The promising trio – Siddhant Gupta, Vedant Anil Wankhade and Vikas snatched Gold from Iran with a margin of 3 points (233 Vs 230) in Compound Men division. Before this, they eliminated Malaysia (230 Vs229) in Semi-final and Indonesia (231 Vs 216) in quarter final.
Recurve Duo- Yashdeep Bhoge and Ankita Bhagat first on top by winning another Gold in mixed team defeating Myanmar (6-2). They defeated China (5-4) and Mangolia (5-3) in semi and quarter finals respectively.
However Compound Women Team of Muskan Kirar, Sanchita Tiwary and Priya Gurjar lost to Malaysian team (226 Vs 230) in the final and took Silver.. They crossed the barricades of semi and quarter final upsetting the challenge of Bangladesh (233 Vs 216) and Vietnam (225 Vs 208) in one sided matches.
Recurve Women Team of Ankita Bhakat, Himani and Premilaben Baria lost the final against a strong Chinese Team in a set format (0-6) and settled with Silver. To reach final, they crushed Russian (6-0) and Kazakhstan (5-4) teams.
Compound Mixed Tam – Muskan Kirar and Siddhant Gupta bagged bronze medals.
Archery Association of India (AAI) president BVP Rao, hailed the performance of the junior for their spectacular performance in the Asia Cup Stage-1 in Bangkok. “this is a very good sign for Indian Archery and an excellent morale booster for the teams too as they are working very hard for the Youth World Championship slated in 2019” he said
The archery team was ably supported by NTPC Limited ensuring a shining result at the archery meet which concluded today.
The support of NTPC to promote the ancient game of India was well appreciated Rao, who thanked NTPC Limited for coming forward to support the association.
Speaking on the stupendous success of the junior team, the NTPC spokesperson said, “NTPC Limited and Archery Association of India (AAI) have come together for a three years partnership with a common vision of supporting the sports persons in winning medals at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other top-level international events of Archery.”