Asian Games 2018: Take a bow for archers

Jakarta: India suffered two heart-breaking losses to South Korea in the the men’s and women’s compound archery finals to settle for a silver each at the Asian Games here on Tuesday.

Both the finals were fiercely contested. While the women faltered in the final set, the men could easily blame their luck after the final went into a shoot-off with scores in the fourth set tied at 229-229.

Defending champions India and Korea shot 29 each in the shoot-off but the latter scraped via a measured win, which implies shots closest to the bull’s eye (inner 10).

Two archery medals were still more than welcome for India after the disappointment in recurve category.

It was a perfect start to the men’s final from India as the team of Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan and Aman Saini shot a maximum 60 to Korea’s 56 in the opening set.

The shooting standards dropped in second set with India scoring 54, including an 8, to the opponents’ score of 58, levelling the final at 114-114.

The third set went in India’s favour 58-56, giving them a much need two point advantage going into the final set. There was a gold at stake and senior archer Verma constantly fired up his teammates.

Verma delivered when it mattered most, shooting couple of 10 pointers in the final set. But when the judges ruled two 9s to 10s, it was 229-229, pushing the final into a dramatic shoot-off.

India shot a 9, 10 and 10 and Korea shot a 10-9-10. The score was tied but Korea prevailed via a measured win after it had its 10s more closer to the bull’s eye than India. That left defending champions in utter disbelief.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Indian women’s compound team fell agonisingly short of beating defending champions South Korea, settling for a maiden silver at the Asian Games.

Chauhan also happy to clear 12th exam
Rajat is expectedly elated at winning a second straight medal at the Asian Games but he is equally kicked about clearing his 12th exams after a fifth attempt.

“Jee who kahawat abhi bhee lagu hain. Padoge likhoge banoge nawab, kheloge kudoge hoge kharab (you will make it big if you are educated, sports won’t lead you anywhere). It is still taken very seriously in my family. More than that, the fact I have cleared after so many attempts gives me a lot of satisfaction,” Chauhan said.