Nineteen-year-old Prathamesh Jawkar shocked World No. 1 Mike Schloesser to claim his maiden gold medal on a day that witnessed Indian compound archers’ fine showing at the Archery World Cup Stage-2 in Shanghai.
Apart from Jawkar, V. Jyothi Surekha and Ojas Deotale secured their second consecutive mixed team gold and Avneet Kaur picked up the women’s individual bronze to mark a fruitful Saturday for India.
Holding his nerve
Jawkar beat Estonia’s Robin Jaatma 147-145 in the semifinals before upsetting Dutchman Schloesser — an indoor and outdoor World champion who has claimed altogether 12 individual gold medals in different stages and finals of the World Cup — 149-148 in a keenly-contested final.
The two were tied 29-29, 59-59, 89-89 and 119-119 in the first four ends. Jawkar held his nerve to shoot his fourth consecutive 30, while Schloesser slipped a bit in the final end.
India’s previous individual compound men’s gold was won by Abhishek Verma at a 2021 World Cup stage in Paris.
Another upset
The sixth-placed Indian pair of the experienced Jyothi Surekha and young Ojas upset the top-ranked Korean duo of Oh Yoohyun and Kim Jongho 156-155 in the mixed team summit clash to win the gold medal.
The teams were tied in the first three ends before the Indians prevailed 39-38 in the final end with Jyothi shooting a 10 in the last shot of the match.
Eighteen-year-old Avneet lost to World No. 1 Ella Gibson 144-146 in the semifinals, but raised her game to beat Turkey’s Ipek Tomruk 147-144 for the bronze.
