CWG archery: Indians in semi-finals of team events

NEW DELHI - It was a good day for India in the archery arena as the hosts entered the semi-finals of both men’s and women’s recurve and compound events of the competition at the 19th Commonwealth Games here Wednesday.

However, the cynosure of all eyes were the unsung compound archers, particularly the men, who pulled off upset wins over fancied sides in front of a cheering crowd at the Yamuna Sports Complex.

In contrast, the men’s recurve team - the top ranked in the tournament - put up a below par performance, but were still too good for the Sri Lankans in the quarter-final.

In men’s compound quarter-final, the Indians edged out third ranked New Zealand by a slender margin of one point after a gruelling contest. Finishing on the right side of a 226-225 scoreline, the Indians will now take on South Africa Thursday for a place in the final to be played the same day.

The Indian troika of Ritul Chatterjee, Jignas Chittibomma and C.S. Srither, who had got the sixth place in the ranking round, kept their cool at crucial moments to get it past the Kiwis, one of the leading sides in the world. Earlier, the hosts outplayed Trinidad and Tobago 224-219 in the pre-quarterfinals. The other semi-final will be between England and Australia.

In women’s compound the fifth ranked Indian archers rode on a fine display from Gagandeep Kaur to put it across Australia 227-220. They would clash with the top seeded Canada in the last four Thursday.

The Indians began opening up a lead mid-way into the match and widened the gulf to come up with the impressive score of 227 as the tie progressed to make Australia, who got the fourth slot in the ranking round, bite the dust.

Gagandeep scored 77, with five ten pointers and three nine pointers, while Bheigyabati Chanu and Jhano Hansdah collected 75 each.

Indian assistant coach, Harendra Singh, however, gave credit to Manipur girl Chanu, who had not been in her element of late.

“A score of 227 is really world class. I am a bit taken by surprise by their scintillating performance.

“If we continue like this we can hope even for gold. Even Canada scored only 223,” he said.

“Bheigyabati’s form had been a cause for concern. But today she really did well.”

England meet Malaysia in the other semi-final.

In men’s recurve, India humbled Sri Lanka 213-205 to settle for a semi-final clash Friday with fifth-ranked Australia, who prevailed over Canada 218-216.

The Indians’ low score was largely due to a lacklustre show from Tarundeep, who carded 9, 8, 7, 7, 10, 9, 9 and 9 to accumulate a poor 68 with his eight arrows. His teammates Rahul Banerjee scored 72 and Jayanta Talukdar, the highest rated player in the tourney, got 73.

The Indian women’s recurve team has already got a bye into the semi-final where they play Malaysia.

In the other semi-finals, the men’s contest will be between England and Malaysia while England and Canada face off in the women’s battle.