Nagoya, Sept. 30 -- India's compound archers displayed admirable poise under pressure to complete a golden sweep in the Asian Games team competitions, successfully defending their crowns in men's, women's and mixed events here on Wednesday with performances that ranged from domineering to gritty.
Cherry on top was the mixed combination of Chikitha Taniparthi and Sahil Jadhav also securing an Olympic quota place for the country following their top finish.
India thus became the first country to qualify for the 2028 Olympics in the compound mixed team event, which will mark the discipline's debut in the Los Angeles Games.
The women's trio of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha and Prithika Pradeep kicked off the gold rush that culminated with the men's combination of Kushal Dalal, Sahil Jadhav and Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru rallying to outwit the Chinese trio of Jiahao Liao, Jinyi Liu and Jingyu Shi in the finals 238-237.
For Chikitha and Sahil, the day brought two gold medals as they had earlier showed nerves of steel to prevail over Korea's Jungyoon Park and Choi Eun Gyu in a thrilling mixed team final, winning 158-157 after a shoot-off.
"It's awesome. We were so confident when we were playing team matches. I have trust on my
team-mates, they have trust on me. We will shoot our best in any condition," Sahil said, summing up India's dominating performance, after winning the men's team gold.
The Indian duo had entered the gold-medal match after beating Thailand 156-155 in the semifinals.
This was after the Indian women's compound team produced a sensational performance to outclass the Chinese trio of Wunier, Yue Wang and Fangyao Wei 238-234 and retain its gold with a world record-equalling score.
Jyothi, Chikitha and Prithika dominated the women's summit clash to secure the top spot on the podium. Of these, Jyothi was a part of the gold-winning women's team in Hangzhou as well.
"We pushed each other and kept telling each other that we have to give our best. Even if we had one bad shot, a nine score, we kept bucking each
other up and saying 'Get back to what you know best and keep focusing on that'," said Prithika after the final.
"I know it's a big tournament, but at the end of the day it's the same people, it's the same archery that I have to shoot. So I was just focusing on that to be honest. But it feels really good to win gold with my teammates," she added.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.