Asian Games, Archery: Jyothi Surekha Takes Pole, Powers India To Top-Spot In Women's Compound, Mixed Qualifiers

Seasoned Jyothi Surekha Vennam led the charge as Indian compound archers lived up to their reputation, topping the qualification and also grabbed No. 1 seeding in women's and mixed pair team events at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Sunday. World champion Ojas Deotale and 2014 Asian Games silver medalist Abhishek Verma secured third-fourth place finish as India took the second seedings in men's team compound qualifiers. The 27-year-old Jyothi set the tone in the first-half of the session when she edged her South Korean rivals to top the qualification with 704 points, five clear of So Chaewon.

(Asian Games 2023 Medals Tally | Asian Games 2023 Full Schedule)

Reigning world champion Aditi Swami (696) secured the fourth spot and became the second Indian to make the cut for the elimination round.

Jyothi, Aditi along with Parneet Kaur (12th place) had an aggregate team score of 2087, which was a two-way tie with South Korea, but the Indians sealed the top-spot with more number of '10+X' scores (150-146) than their rivals.

By virtue of their top seeding, the Indian women's team have got a bye into the quarterfinals where they will face the winners of the match between Hong Kong and Bangladesh.

But it was a bit of disappointment for the 21-year-old Deotale who finished just three points behind the veteran Joo Jaehoon (712). South Korea had top-two spots with Chang Cheng-Wei finishing second (711).

At 2117 points each, the men's compound team were also locked for the top-spot with the Koreans who claimed the top-seed with better 10+X scores (176-174).

Indian compound mixed team also grabbed the top billing with 1413 points, two ahead of Korea.

The mixed team event -- in both recurve and compound disciplines -- is a new category added to this edition of the Asian Games which will offer 10 gold medals, up from eight in 2018.

Jyothi and Deotale, who have the two best finishes among the Indians, will be India's contestants and will face bottom-ranked UAE in the round of 16.

In pursuit of her first-ever Asian Games individual medal, the 27-year-old Jyothi, who is the most accomplished Indian compound archer, grabbed all the attention in the morning session at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre.

Jyothi, who boasts of eight medals at the World Championships, dropped just five points to total 355 at the midway mark of 36 arrows. She shot 16 perfect 10s, and 15 more Xs (closer to the centre).

Jyothi slipped a bit in the back-end of 36 arrows, aggregating 349 points behind the South Korean So Chaewon by one point.

But it did not matter much as the Indian edged out the South Korean in aggregate to take the top spot.

All the four Indians in the compound sections -- Deotale, Abhishek, Jyothi and Aditi -- have got byes into the round of 32 in the individual elimination round.

As per the new rule in this Games, only top two archers from a country qualify for the draw of 64 elimination round.

Recurve archers impress 
Chasing their first Asian Games medal in recurve section in 13 years, India also had an inspiring show in the Olympic-discipline event.

Two-time Olympian Atanu Das finished fourth, while promising youngster Dhiraj Bommadevara was the next best Indian at sixth spot to make the cut in the men's recurve section.

As a result, the Indian men's recurve team qualified as the third seeds with 2022 points.

Recurve heavyweights South Korea topped the qualifiers with 2048 points, while Chinese Taipei (2030) took the second spot in the standings.

In men's recurve section, comeback man Das finished as the top-ranked Indian at overall fourth spot (678).

Rising youngster from the Army, Dhiraj was not too far behind at the seventh spot with a score of 675.

The duo made the cut for the elimination round. Tushar Shelke was the next best Indian at 15th place to qualify for the team event where they aggregated 2022 to take the third seedings, just eight points behind Chinese Taipei.

South Korea occupied the first spot (2048).

At No 10, Ankita Bhakat was India's best finisher in recurve women's event, while Bhajan Kaur (14th) was the second to qualify.

Ankita totalled 649, way behind top seed Lim Sihyeon (678) of South Korea.

India ranked No. 5 in the women's team event with 1929 points. Korea (2022) and hosts China (2005) and Chinese Taipei (1941) took the top-three seedings.

India took the fifth spot in recurve mixed team which will see Ankita partnering Das as they will begin their campaign against the 12th seeded Malaysian rivals.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)