Shanghai, May 9 (IANS) Sahil Jadhav earned a bronze medal in the men’s individual compound competition at the Archery World Cup 2026 Stage 2 on Saturday, securing his first career World Cup medal. The 25-year-old Indian athlete defeated Denmark’s Martin Damsbo 147-144 in the bronze medal match. After losing the first set 30-29, Sahil rallied by winning the next four sets to ensure a spot on the podium.

Earlier, the eighth-seeded Indian narrowly defeated Austria’s Nico Wiener, the 2021 world champion, in a shoot-off after both finished with a score of 147 in the quarter-finals. His journey concluded in the semi-finals, where reigning world champion Nicolas Girard of France beat him 147-145, leading Sahil to compete in the bronze medal match.

Sahil’s campaign featured victories against Indian veteran Abhishek Verma in the third round and Germany’s Ruven Fluss with a score of 149-146 in the round of 16.

His bronze was India’s only medal in the compound events at this year’s Shanghai World Cup, a stark difference from the five compound medals India won at the same venue last year.

Kushal Dalal was eliminated in the quarter-finals, and former world champion Ojas Deotale exited in the round of 16. India’s men’s compound team, which won gold in Shanghai last year, also did not make it to the podium after losing in the quarter-finals.

In the women’s compound team event, India was ousted in the quarter-finals with a score of 233-227 against Turkiye. Madhura Dhamangaonkar, the defending champion from Shanghai, was eliminated in the round of 32 by top seed Alexis Ruiz of the USA.

Former world champion Aditi Swami was India’s top performer in the women’s individual compound event but was eliminated in a quarter-final shoot-off by Estonia’s Lisell Jaatma. Jaatma had previously defeated India’s leading compound archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam 148-147 in the round of 16.

In the mixed compound team event, which will debut at the LA 2028 Olympics, Aditi Swami and Ojas Deotale lost in the quarter-finals to the American pair of Alexis Ruiz and James Lutz.

India still has a chance at medals in the recurve events on Sunday. Simranjeet Kaur reached the women’s individual semi-finals, and the Indian women’s recurve team will compete against China in the gold medal match.

–IANS

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