Archery World Cup Stage 2: Indian women's team wins recurve bronze

Gwangju (South Korea): Indian women archers won a team bronze in the recurve section to take their medal's tally to three at the World Cup Stage 2 here on Thursday.

On a day when Indian men made a quarterfinal exit going down to lower-ranked France, the young trio of Ridhi Phor, Komalika Bari and Ankita Bhakat defeated Chinese Taipei 6-2 (56-52, 54-51, 54-55, 55-54) in a one-sided bronze medal play-off encounter.

Displaying a consistent show, the trio drilled in three perfect 10s and eight 9s from the first 12 arrows to cruise to a 4-0 lead. Two arrows (8-8) in the inner red circle cost them the third set but they bounced back strongly in the fourth to wrap the issue with one X and five 9s.

The Indian women's team had to fight for a bronze after they lost out to its nemesis and home favourites Korea 2-6 (53-55, 57-55, 51-53, 43-53) in the semi-final. It wasn't as if the top-seeded team shot some great scores but the Indian women choked under pressure.

They were at their inconsistent best and only time they could up their game was in the second set where they had a spectacular show of four 10s including one X and one 9. But in the fourth set, they misfired an arrow, while another shot in the red-ring (7) snuffed out any chance of a fight, even as the famed Koreans totalled an ordinary 53. Earlier a new look men's team which had the experienced duo of Tarundeep Rai and Jayanta Talukdar along with debutant Neeraj Chauhan capped a disastrous outing to lose out to their 15th-seeded France 2-6 (54-57, 55-52, 53-55, 47-53).

The seventh-seeded men's team had two 8s in the first set and put up an improved show to win the second but they slipped again and were eliminated with a horror show in the fourth set where they shot twice in the red rings (8-7) and once in the blue-ring (6). On Wednesday, the men's compound team stormed into the final to assure at least a silver, while the women's team won a bronze to open their account.