11 March 2010 - Two Golds for India and England at the Test Event

  Two Golds for India and England at the Test Event New Delhi/Lausanne - 11 March 2010 Archers shot the team finals at the Archery Test Event for the Commonwealth Games today in New Delhi. In the morning, England won the two gold medals at stake in the compound division. As expected, the Indian men and women took the gold in the recurve competition.   Compound MenThe best team from qualifications Malaysia left no chance to Wales (225-217). In a tighter match, England trailed India 55-56, then tied at 112-112 and finally took a one-point advantage at 170-169 to win 226-225 and advance to the gold medal final against Malaysia. The English archers must have been excited from their semifinals victory! They were near perfect in the final for gold, scoring 59-58-58-57 (total 232). Malaysia had a rather weak start but came back in the third end (56-56-59-58). Alas, it was too late and with 229 points they had to settle for the silver. India easily won the bronze medal 224-205.   Compound Women In semifinals, India beat Scotland 221-211. England defeated Malaysia 219-214. In the final for the gold medal, England women’s team scored a perfect 10, 10, 10 to open the match against India, which was not very far behind. India started to creep ahead especially when England dropped points with a 7, 8 and 10 end. However the English women rose to the occasion and on the final end shot 10, 10, 10 again to tie the match. Shooting first in the tie break England again scored 10, 10, 10. The first Indian archer scored an 8 and that was the effective end of the match. The remaining 2 arrows were shot but the result was clear. In the final for bronze, Malaysia took an easy advantage over Scotland, 217-209.   Recurve Men The Indian trio of KAPIL, Mangal Singh CHAMPIA and Tarundeep RAI defeated the English archers 213-190 on their way to the team final. In the other semifinal, Malaysia qualified over Scotland 202-192.   The Indians took the best start in the gold medal final (57-51), and the Malaysian were never able to make a come-back. India won 218-211 to the delight of spectators. The bronze medal match featured neighbours England and Scotland. The medal went to England 210-203.   Recurve Women The team from Singapore lost ground from the very beginning against India and were never able to recover from their bad arrows. In the other semifinal, Malaysia defeated Wales with the highest margin of the day, 40 points (193 against 153)!   In the final for gold, the Indian team comprising Dola BANERJEE, BURUILY and Bombayala Devi LAISHRAM confirmed their domination over the Commonweath. They took the gold over Malaysia, 204-190. The bronze medal went to Singapore.   The competition continues tomorrow with the individual semifinals and finals.   Vanahé ANTILLE FITA Communication