Dhaka, Nov 14: Olympian archer Dhiraj Bommadevara clinched the gold medal in the men’s recurve individual event after beating compatriot Rahul as India concluded its campaign at the Asian Archery Championships with a total of 10 medals here on Friday.
Dhiraj outplayed the fellow Indian Rahul 6-2 in the summit clash to win the top spot on the podium.
After a tightly contested opening set that left the scores level at 1–1, Dhiraj gained the upper hand by securing the second set 29–26 to move ahead 2–1. Rahul responded strongly, holding Dhiraj to a draw in the third set, though the overall score remained 3–1 in Dhiraj’s favour. Dhiraj then closed out the match by winning the final set 28–26.
Earlier in the day, Ankita Bhakat secured a landmark victory by defeating Paris Olympics individual silver medallist Nam Su-hyeon of Korea 7-3 to capture the women’s recurve individual gold.
In the semifinal clash, Ankita outclassed five-time Olympian and fellow Indian Deepika Kumari 6-5 in a thrilling shoot-off. In the second semifinal, India’s Sangeeta, who continued her steady rise after previous success at the Tashkent 2023 Asia Cup, lost to Nam Su-hyeon 0-6.
Meanwhile, Sangeeta concluded her campaign in the recurve women’s individual event with a bronze medal after upsetting Deepika 6-5 in the shoot-off in the bronze medal playoff.
In the morning session, India’s men’s team upstaged Korea in the final to win first gold in the men’s recurve team event at the championships since 2007. Korea were unbeaten in the event since 2013.
The Indian team, comprising Yashdeep Bhoge, Atanu Das and Rahul, emerged victorious by a slender 5-4 margin courtesy of a shoot-off. Both teams shot 29 apiece in the shoot-off but India won gold as Rahul’s arrow was closest to the centre.
Meanwhile, the recurve mixed team of Anshika Kumari and Yashdeep lost the bronze medal match to the Korean duo of Jang Minhee and Seo Mingi.
On Thursday, compound archers bagged five medals to wrap up their campaign. The compound women’s final was an all-Indian affair – with reigning Asian Games champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam claiming her third individual gold medal at the Asian Championships after previously winning it in 2015 and 2021.
Vennam, who played a near-perfect round of 149 in the semifinals against Chinese Taipei’s Chen Si-yu, overcame a tough challenge from 17-year-old compatriot Prithika Pradeep, silver medallist at Winnipeg 2025, before winning the final by two points (147-145).
Earlier, the Indian challengers Vennam and Prithika combined with Deepshikha to win the compound women’s team gold over Korea, represented by Oh Yoohyun, Park Yerin and Park Jungyoon.
However, the world No. 10 Abhishek Verma-led men’s compound team of Sahil Rajesh Jadhav and Prathamesh Bhalchandra Fuge fell short by one point in the final against Kazakhstan (229-230) to settle for the silver.
Meanwhile, the compound mixed team, comprising veteran archer Verma and youngster Deepshikha, bagged the gold after beating the local duo Bonna Akter and Himu Bachhar, 153-155.
–IANS