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India secures two compound team medals as Korea and Denmark bag bronze

16 August 2023

Paris, France

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India will have representation in both compound team finals as Korea and Denmark claimed the first medals of the week at the fourth stage of the 2023 Hyundai Archery World Cup.

Ojas Deotale‘s perfect Parisian start continued as he backed up the top score in individual qualifying with a run to the final of the compound men’s team event.

“It was a piece of cake,” he said. “It’s a special feeling that we’re all in the finals together.”

The fourth seeds toppled first seeds Korea to reach the last two, winning a dramatic semifinal contest via a tie-breaker.

Prathamesh Samadhan Jawkar and Abhishek Verma will accompany Deotale in Saturday’s final, where they will take on James Lutz, Kris Schaff and Sawyer Sullivan of the USA.

India’s women delivered on their billing as the number one ranked team, seeing off Estonia and then Great Britain by just a single point to guarantee a medal.

Jyothi Vennam, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur will face the Mexican trio of Andrea Becerra, Ana Sofía Hernández and Dafne Quintero in the gold medal match on the finals venue at Invalides.

Mexico’s compound women’s team going for gold on Saturday in Paris.

After both Indian teams secured bronze in Medellin last time out, they now have the chance to secure their first gold medals of the 2023 world cup season.

“It was a very tight match and we were just shooting, focusing on the shot while calming our nerves,” said Kaur after the semifinal win over Great Britain.

“We have shot in the world championships before and as a team, even if we were losing a few points, we were focusing on pushing each other to do our best,” added Swami.

After missing out on the medal places in Medellin, Mexico is full of determination and Quintero is confident its hard work will help them reclaim their crown.

“I think it was just trusting each other, trusting ourselves, then we knew that the result was coming,” she said. “We know that working on our technique and working on our own problems is going to help the team.”

“So right now we’re just focusing on us as individuals, and we know that at the weekend, we’ll be fully in the team spirit.”

Korean compound women’s team celebrate bronze medal.

The first medal of the week went to Korea’s women, who shook off semifinal disappointment to sink Great Britain.

Song Yun Soo hopes their solid start can provide the foundations for deep runs in both the mixed team and individual events.

“Because we’ve won a medal already, it’s really positive for the individual and mixed team,” she said. “I know and believe that my team is really good.”

So Chaewon was a little less upbeat, mourning missed opportunities in the semifinal defeat to Mexico in what was a repeat of the Shanghai stage gold medal match.

“There were some bad parts during the semi-finals that I think we could fix and it worked,” the Korean said.

Mathias Fullerton was the star of the show on day one and he landed his first medal of the week, and second stage medal, in the men’s team bronze final.

After losing to the USA, Denmark beat Korea to third, thereby securing its first medal in any compound event since stage one in Antalya.

“It’s a little bit nerve wracking when you know you have to hit it, but you just try to keep calm and do what you did with all the other arrows before that,” said Fullerton. “Trying to stay relaxed can be hard and easy at the same time.”

“It’s a good start and it’s good prep for the individual matches,” added teammate Martin Damsbo. “It’s always nice to come in and shoot with high tension on the finals field as well.”

Action in Paris continues on Wednesday afternoon with the recurve qualification.