Aichi-Nagoya. Indian archers Dheeraj Bommadevara and Kumkum Anil Mohod gave India its first silver medal in the mixed recurve team event at the Asian Games.
The Indian pair lost 3-5 against China’s Zhu Jingyi and Li Mengchi in the final on Friday.
The result also meant that India missed out on a Los Angeles 2028 Olympic qualification quota in the mixed recurve team event.
At the same time, the Chinese pair won the gold medal in this event of the Asian Games and also secured the quota place for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
China started the match in a strong manner. China easily took the lead in the first set of this three-edition competition. India suffered a loss when Kumkum’s second arrow hit seven points and China won the first set.
China strengthened its lead in the second set also. Dheeraj scored the only 10 points for India, but China maintained the lead.
In the third set, the Indian pair made a brilliant comeback and created excitement in the match. Dheeraj and Kumkum both scored 10 points each, while China’s Li Mengchi had one arrow hit seven points. India won this set and made the score of the match 3-3.
India were hoping to make a comeback, but China scored 37 points in the deciding set to level the score and eliminate the possibility of a shoot-off.
In this way, China won the match 5-3 and won the gold medal, while India had to be satisfied with the historic silver medal.
Earlier in the semi-finals, India had made it to the final by defeating the Japanese pair of Asakuno Nanami and Nakanishi Junya 5-3.
Japan had taken a 3-1 lead in the semi-finals, but the Indian pair made a brilliant comeback and scored four consecutive points and entered the gold medal match.
Earlier, Kumkum, Ankita Bhakat and Kirti Sharma defeated South Korea 5-3 in the women’s recurve team final to win gold, India’s first medal in the event at the Asian Games.
The win was India’s 11th gold at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, while the mixed team’s silver took the country’s total medal tally to 68, including 11 gold, 24 silver and 33 bronze.
At present India is at seventh position in the position table. 17-year-old Kumkum was part of both the gold-winning women’s team and the silver-winning mixed team pair on Friday, making her one of India’s leading players in recurve archery at these Games.