Archery World’s: India’s best shot of Jyothi Vennam-Rishabh Yadav good enough for silver in Compound mixed team, now an Olympic event

Yadav/Vennam became only the second Indian pair to win a world championship silver medal, with the 29-year-old Jyothi having been on the podium before in 2021 alongside Abhishek Verma in Yankton, USA.

Rishabh was happy he had medalled each time he paired with Jyothi. “Both me and Jyothi didi were discussing that this silver will only help us to aspire for more. I have paired up with Jyothi didi three times this year including World Championships and to win a medal all three times is something we should be proud of,” he said.

He said their confidence was intact despite the shaky final, especially the second set slump. “Yes, it was not our day as we were a bit shaky between the finals but such things can happen to the best and we believe that we are among the world’s best. That was the belief I carried into the men’s team final and the men’s compound team world title also adds to the confidence as an individual archer,” shared Rishabh while speaking with The Indian Express from Gwangju.

Sunday’s final would see the Indian pair taking a one point lead of 39-38 after the first set. But three nines by the Indians in the second set, including two from Rishabh and one from Jyothi meant that the Dutch pair was leading 77-76 thereafter. Yadav and Jyothi would hit all tens in the third set to reduce the gap to one point with the final set remaining. The Indian pair shot a 39 in the final set as compared to a perfect 40 by the Dutch pair to lose the final 155-157.

“Sometimes, things don’t go as we want. Both the nines in the second set, I felt could have been close tens. But then that’s archery. As a pair, both me and Rishabh have shot one of our best this year,” Jyothi maintained. “Yes, there is always an uncertainty about who will be the team-mate as it depends on the individual rankings, but then we all practice all scenarios during practice. And this silver medal is just one of the steps for the target of an Olympic medal,” shared Vennam.

Vennam, who has five World Cup individual medals apart from a World Championship individual bronze, added to her tally of 12 World Cup mixed team medals. After pairing up with Yadav for the first time in World Cup Stage 1 for a win, the duo had picked bronze in World Cup Stage 4.

Coming into Sunday’s final, the Indian pair had scored a perfect 160 against Germany in their second round match, before winning against El Salvador and a good win against Chinese Taipei.

The Indian mixed team was top ranked this year with Yadav/Jyothi winning a gold and silver in world cups and the pair of Abhishek Verma and Madhura Dhamangoankar taking bronze in World Cup Stage 2.

With the LA Olympics set to feature 12 compound mixed teams with one team per country, Indian coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja believes this silver medal will only motivate others too to get into contention. “There are other world class contenders too like Abhishek Verma, 2023 world champions Ojas Deotale and Aditi Swami. This world’s silver medal will only improve the competition among all,” said Teja.

With archers like Schloesser too being strong contenders in the mixed team format and teams like Korea, Mexico, Colombia, Great Britain and Chinese Taipei fielding good mixed teams, the next world championship in 2027 can also see some new names emerging. Korea lost in the semis, while USA were edged out in a second round shoot-off by the Dutch. Colombia lost in Round 1, while China didn’t field a team in the event.

Former high performance director Sanjiva Singh, believes Indian archery should not get complacent. “Foreign coaches like four-time world champion Sergio Pagni have worked with the Indian compound teams and such expertise should be always included. Most countries will try to focus on mixed team format in the next 2-3 years and it’s important that we stay ahead of them,” shared Singh.

Indian men win historic first gold

Post the silver, 23-year-old Rishabh would head to the training arena after the medal ceremony to join his men’s compound team-mates Prathamesh Fuge and Aman Saini, who won India’s first men’s team World Championship gold with a 235-233 win over the French trio of Nicolas Girard, Jean Boulch and Francois Dubo.

Men’s team is a non-Olympic event.

With the trio of Yadav, Fuge and Saini becoming the first Indian men’s team to win the gold, it meant a historic first. They came back from trailing 57-59 to win the final after the Indian team averaged 9.78 as compared to the French team’s 9.73 in the end. “Rishabh led the way and Aman and Prathamesh too stepped up when needed. All three of them were playing as a team for the first time but then to win the world championships gold will add a lot to their confidence in individual rounds too, especially for Prathamesh and Aman,” said national coach Surender Singh.