Indian Archers Win Silver, Bronze In Recurve Team Events, End 13-Year Wait

A 13-year wait ended in archery on Friday when the Indian men's and women's teams surpassed expectations to clinch a silver and bronze respectively, their first medals since 2010, at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Friday. Battling injuries, the recurve team of Ankita Bhakat, Simranjeet Kaur and Bhajan Kaur defied odds to clinch a bronze medal in the morning session. The fifth-seeded women's trio dropped just one set to down their Vietnamese rivals 6-2 (56-52, 55-56, 57-50, 51-48) and secure their first-ever Asian Games medal in the Olympic-discipline category since Guangzhou 2010. (Asian Games 2023 Medals Tally | Asian Games 2023 Full Schedule)

The women's team's splendid show then rubbed off on their male counterparts as the triumvirate of Atanu Das, Tushar Shelke, and Dhiraj Bommadevara returned with a silver medal.

They defeated Bangladesh's Sagor Islam, Hakim Rubel and Ruman Shana 5-3 (58-51, 57-54, 56-58, 57-57) in a lopsided semifinal.

But up against heavyweights South Korea in the gold medal clash, the Indian trio faltered 5-1 (55-60, 57-57, 55-56). The Indians had a splendid second set, drawing level to make it 1-3.

In the third set, the Koreans slipped to the 8-ring but that did not matter much as Lee Wooseok, Oh Jinhyek and Kim Je Deok pipped India by a point to take the third set and seal the gold.

The last time India had won a medal in recurve category at the Asian Games was 13 years ago when they bagged an individual silver and team bronze medals in men's and women's events.

For India, this was their record eighth medal overall in archery at the ongoing games. They have already won three team gold medals in mixed, women's and men's events of the non-Olympic compound section.

Abhishek Verma and Ojas Deotale