Youth World Championships: Cadet archers make clean sweep in team events

Indian archers achieved their best ever show in the Youth World Championships by grabbing three gold, one silver and one bronze medal in the compound section on Saturday. In absence of Asian heavyweights Korea and China, the Indian archers ruled the roost in the under-18 (cadet) section, where the men's, women's and mixed pair teams emerged world champions.

Priya Gurjar, who had topped the qualification round and the team set a world record, narrowly missed the individual gold, going down to Selene Rodriguez by three points (136-139) to settle for a silver. Priya, Parneet Kaur and Ridhu Senthil Kumar had combined for 2067 to better the previous record by 22 points.

Parneet bagged a bronze, defeating Hallie Boulton of Great Britain 140-135. Later in the day, India will fight for a fourth gold in junior woman individual section. India are also in hunt for a second bronze in junior men's individual.

Earlier the women's team Priya, Parneet and Ridhi Varshini, who had shattered a four-year-old record in the rankings round, put up a splendid show to defeat their rivals from Turkey 228-216 en route to the gold medal.

The men's team of Kushal Dalal, Sahil Chaudhary and Nitin Apar followed suit, shocking the top seeds USA 233-231 in an intriguing contest to bag gold. The Indian trio won the first end narrowly (58-57) and extended their lead by two points by shooting 59 out of 60 in the second end.

In the third end, the Indians shot five perfect 10s for a three-point advantage that proved decisive as the USA trio of Sawyer Sullivan, Isaac Sullivan and Nathan Zimmerman failed to overcome the deficit despite winning the fourth end (59-58).

The top-seeded mixed pair of Priya and Dalal then made a clean sweep in the cadet team events, defeating third seed USA 155-152 en route to bagging a third gold. India are also in line for five more gold and two bronze medals in the recurve section on Sunday.

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