A 16-member Indian Junior Archery Team made the nation proud at the recently concluded Asia Cup World Ranking Archery Stage-1 in Bangkok. The team triumphed at the event with an overall haul of 7 medals including 3 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. The archery team was ably supported by NTPC Limited ensuring a shining result at the archery meet . The support of NTPC to promote the ancient game of India was well appreciated by Shri BVP Rao, President of Archery Association. He thanked NTPC Limited for coming forward to support the association.
Speaking on the stupendous success of the junior team, the NTPC spokesperson said, “NTPC Limited and Archery Association of India (AAI) have come together for a three years partnership with a common vision of supporting the sportspersons in winning medals at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other top-level international events of Archery.”
Shri BVP Rao President, Archery Association of India extended his good wishes to the Indian Junior Archery Team for their spectacular performance in the Asia Cup Stage-1 in Bangkok. He said “this is a very good sign for Indian Archery and an excellent morale booster for the teams too as they are working very hard for the Youth World Championship slated in 2019”
Details of achievements of Junior Archery Team are as under:-
- 18 years old – Muskan Kirar performed exceeding well and contributed two Golds, one silver and one bronze medal in India’s medal tally. She emerged “Individual Champion” in Compound women category by registering victory over Malaysian Archer by 147 Vs 142. After defeating Thailand Archer in pre-quarter final in a tie-breaker (143 -143). She gained incredible confidence and defeated Bangladeshi Archer (144-141) in quarter final and Irani Archer (146-144) in semi-final.
- The fearsome Trio – Siddhant Gupta, Vedant Anil Wankhade and Vikas clinched Gold from Iran with a margin of 3 points (233 Vs 230) in Compound Men division. Before this, they eliminated Malaysia (230 Vs229) in Semi-final and Indonesia (231 Vs 216) in quarter final.
- Recurve Duo- Yashdeep Bhoge and Ankita Bhagat occupied top slot in podium by winning another Gold in mixed team for the country defeating Myanmar (6-2). They defeated China (5-4) and Mangolia (5-3) in semi and quarter finals respectively.
- Compound Women Team of Muskan Kirar, Sanchita Tiwary and Priya Gurjar which was showing goo competitiveness up to semi-final lost to Malaysian team (226 Vs 230) and took Silver Medal. They crossed the barricades of semi and quarter final upsetting the challenge of Bangladesh (233 Vs 216) and Vietnam (225 Vs 208) in one sided matches.
- Recurve Women Team of Ankita Bhakat, Himani and Premilaben Baria lost the final against a strong Chinese Team in a set format (0-6) and settled with Silver. To reach final, they crushed Russian (6-0) and Kazakhstan (5-4) teams.
- Compound Mixed Tam – Muskan Kirar and Siddhant Gupta bagged bronze medals.
- Veddant Anil Wankhade stood at 3rd position by grabbing Individual Bronze in compound men section.