Indian women recurve team shocked top seed Germany 5-3 to set up a gold medal clash with Chinese Taipei in the first stage of Archery World Cup at the Yuanshen Stadium here today.
India also remained in medal hunt in the men’s team and mixed pair in the recurve section but it was a forgettable outing for the compound archers who will return empty-handed after failing to progress to any medal round.
The trio of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi bounced back from their disappointing run in the individual events yesterday to down their German opponents.
Seventh seed Chinese Taipei thrashed higher-ranked Russia 6-0 in the other semifinal.
All the recurve medals events will be held Sunday, while tomorrow will be the compound finals.
The Indian trio shot three 9s, followed by three Xs (closest to the centre) to take a 2-0 lead in the first set.
The German team of Lisa Unruh, Elena Richter and Karina Winter recovered in the second to total 57 points but the Indians matched them to take a 3-1 lead.
There was a minor blip by the Indians in the third set where they shot two 8s as Germans levelled 3-3 but Deepika, Laxmirani and Bombayla were back in their elements in the decider to edge their opponents by a solitary point to wrap the issue 5-3.
The fourth seeds began their campaign with a 6-0 blanking of the US, seeded 13th, while in the quarters they overcame a stiff challenge from their Chinese opponents 5-4 in a match that was decided in the shoot-off.
Locked 4-4 after four sets, India shot 29 (9-10-X) compared to China’s 28 (10-9-9) in the shoot-off.
The recurve men’s team of Atanu Das, Jayanta Talukdar and Mangal Singh Champia who qualified as third seed were pipped by second-seed Netherlands 5-4 in the shoot off (28-30) in the semi-finals.
India had beaten France 5-3 in the first round, while in the quarters they downed 11th seed Germany 6-2.
The Indian men’s team will face ninth seed Britain in the bronze play-off.
It was a disappointing outing for men’s compound team who made a first round exit losing to lower-ranked Iran 226-233.
Sixth seeded women’s compound team were a shade better to go past the first round hurdle, downing Malaysia 224-223 with a solitary point, but only to suffer a 220-229 defeat against third ranked Germany.
