Singapore
India’s junior archers returned with nine medals — two gold, six silver, and one bronze — from the Asia Cup Leg 2 in Singapore on Friday. While the medal count seems impressive, the overall performance raised concerns, especially due to five losses in the finals.
Indian archers made it to seven of ten finals across recurve and compound categories but managed to win only two gold medals. Most defeats came in disappointing fashion, with top-seeded players falling under pressure and missing crucial shots.
The recurve section, an Olympic discipline, was the biggest letdown. Indian recurve archers failed to win any gold. In the men’s team final, top seeds Vishnu Choudhary, Paras Hooda, and Juyel Sarkar were beaten 6-0 by Japan, failing to score 50 in two of three sets.
In the recurve mixed final, Choudhary and Vaishnavi Pawar lost to Indonesia after a poor start and multiple errors. The women’s recurve team and all individual archers didn’t even make the medal rounds.
In the compound category, however, India had better results. Kushal Dalal won gold in the men’s final, while Tejal Salve beat fellow Indian Shanmukhi Budde in the women’s final. Sachin Chechi won bronze in a close playoff.
India narrowly missed more medals as the men’s compound team lost to Kazakhstan 231-235, and the women’s team lost a shoot-off to Malaysia. The mixed compound team also faltered under pressure, losing their lead to Kazakhstan and then the shoot-off.
The results show promise but also highlight India’s ongoing struggle with performance under pressure.