Parneet, Dalal win mixed compound gold; archers win three medals at World University Games

Rhine-Ruhr, Essen (Germany), Jul 25 (PTI) India’s Parneet Kaur and Kushal Dalal held their nerves in a thrilling finish to beat South Korea’s Yerin Park and Seunghyun Park and clinch the mixed compound archery gold medal at the World University Games, here on Friday.

Parneet and Dalal's triumph also gave India its first gold at the event, adding to two other medals won in archery team events earlier in the day.

Both archers had to deal with disappointment as Dalal settled for a silver in the men’s team event, while the Asian Games team gold medallist Parneet returned with a bronze in the women’s team event.

The duo showed remarkable character and composure in the mixed pair event to bounce back and overturn a one-point deficit at the halfway mark, nailing eight perfect arrows -- including one ‘X’ (closer to the centre) -- across the final two ends to seal a 157-154 win.

In the mixed team final, both the sides were locked at 39-39 in the first end.

The Koreans then edged ahead by a point after the second end, leading 78-77.

However, Parneet and Dalal came back brilliantly in the penultimate end, shooting four perfect 10s with an X to grab a three-point lead at 117-114 as the Korean duo faltered with two 9s and an 8.

Keeping their composure, the Indian pair delivered another flawless 40 in the final end.

Although the Korean team also shot a perfect 40 in response, it was not enough to deny India the gold.

Earlier, the women’s compound team of Parneet, Avneet Kaur and Madhura Dhamangaonkar opened India’s account with a commanding 232-224 win over Great Britain’s Chloe A’Bear, Hallie Boulton and Grace Chappell in the bronze medal match.

The Indian trio dropped just one point in the first end to build an eight-point cushion, which they maintained with consistent shooting, sealing the bronze with another strong fourth-end score of 59.

Meanwhile, the men’s compound team of Dalal, Sahil Jadhav and Hritik Sharma came agonisingly close to winning gold medal, losing by just one point to Turkey’s Bauhan Akcaoglu, Yunus Emre Arslan and Yakum Yildiz.

The Indian men led by one point after the first end (58-57) and stretched it to 117-114 midway through the match.

But Turkey bounced back with a perfect 60 in the third end to level at 174-174 and edged ahead in the final round, shooting 58 against India’s 57 to snatch gold by the narrowest of margins.

India remain in contention for more medals, with Dalal and Jadhav set for an all-India clash in the men’s individual semifinals on Saturday.

Parneet is also eyeing an individual podium finish and will face South Korea’s S Kim in her semifinal bout. PTI TAP DDV