Dhaka, Nov 10 (IANS) Indian men’s recurve and women’s compound archery teams advanced to the final of the Asian Archery Championships here on Monday.

The second-seeded men’s recurve team of Yashdeep Sanjay Bhoge, Atanu Das & Rahul defeated Kazakhstan 5-3 to set up a final with South Korea, who beat Uzbekistan 6-2 in the semi-final.

The men’s trio started the campaign with a commanding 6-2 victory over Turkmenistan, followed by a 6-0 thrashing of Malaysia in the quarter-finals.

In the qualification round, Bhoge achieved a career-best qualification score of 687 points, including nine X10s. The 25-year-old’s only previous international medal was in the mixed team event at the 2019 Asia Cup in Bangkok. Seasoned archer Atanu finished seventh with 668 points, while Rahul was 11th with 666.

The women’s team, comprising Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Prithika Pradeep, and Deepsikha, defeated the hosts Bangladesh 234-227 in the semi-final to reach the final against South Korea, who defeated Iran 237-227.

The top-seeded women’s team started with a 235-225 victory over Vietnam in the quarterfinal and then secured a win in the semifinals against the hosts Bangladesh.

In the qualification rounds, Deepshikha topped the chart with 705, followed closely by world number two Jyothi Surekha Vennam on 703, and promising stars Prithika Pradeep with 702 and Chikitha Taniparthi with 701 – both medallists in Winnipeg – with just one point separating the trio.

Competition at the Asian Archery Championships continues in Dhaka on Tuesday with individual and team eliminations. The event runs throughout the week. The compound finals are scheduled for Thursday and the recurve finals on Friday.

A total of 207 archers from 29 nations are competing for continental honours across 10 events at the National Stadium in Dhaka. India’s seasoned archer Deepika Kumari aims to secure her first gold medal of the season after winning bronze in Shanghai.

–IANS

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