Friday, September 3, 2010

Indian men in Archery World Cup final

KOLKATA: Indian men erased bitter memory of the past by sailing into the final of the recurve team event in the Archery World Cup Stage IV, ousting hosts China in the semifinal at Shanghai on Friday.

India will face Japan in the summit-clash for the gold medal on Saturday.

Indian men's recurve side comprising Jayanta Talukdar, Tarundeep Rai and Rahul Banerjee, ensured a final berth with a thumping 222-214 win over China, according to information received here from the Archery Association of India (AAI).

The men's team had returned empty-handed from the World Cup Stage III at Ogden after losing the quarterfinal to the hosts USA.

This time India's first round victim was Great Britain, one of the strong contenders at the Commonwealth Games, as they notched a 218-215 victory.

Incidentally, India beat USA 225-208 in the quarterfinal to avenge their loss in the last edition.

Japan shocked world champion Korea 224-216 to make the final.

Meanwhile, Indian women's recurve side, consisting of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Dola Banerjee, went down to Japan 212-213 in the initial round.

The women's trio had won silver at Ogden. In the compound section, the men's team of C Srither, Ch Jagnas and Ritul Chatterjee, were ousted by Malaysia 218-224.

The women's outfit of Jhano Hansdah, Bheigyabati Chanu and Gagandeep Kaur made a quarterfinal exit after going down to the USA 218-226.

The women's trio defeated New Zealand 216-200 in their opening round clash.

Indian recurve mixed pair of Talukdar and Deepika, seeded third, went down to 14th seed Mexico 142-145.

Compound duo of K Ratan Singh and Hansdah, ranked 10th, ousted Italy 153-151 in the first round but lost to the USA 150-154 in the last eight.

TOI