Prathamesh Fuge makes semifinal; recurve archers disappoint in World Cup Stage 2

Yecheon (South Korea), May 23 (PTI) Young compound archer Prathamesh Fuge advanced into the semifinals but men’s and women’s recurve teams endured shock opening round losses in the World Cup Stage 2, here on Thursday.

Reigning Asian Games champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam, who bagged a hattrick of gold medals at the Stage 1 Shanghai leg last month also fell by the wayside, going down to Sara Lopez 142-145 in the compound women’s individual quarters.

The 21-year-old Fuge secured one of the top wins of his career when he shocked 2021 world champion and world No 6 Nico Wiener 146-145 to set up a semifinal clash against James Lutz of the USA.

He mounted early pressure, shooting a perfect round of 30 in the first end, as the Austrian heavyweight struggled to come back.

Wiener managed to level 117-all in the fourth end, but Fuge held his nerves and dropped just one point in the final round to seal a thrilling one-point win.

Multiple World Cup gold medalist Abhishek Verma made a second round exit, while Priyansh lost out in the pre-quarters.

Coming on the back of shocking world champions South Korea to win the Shanghai gold, Indian men’s team of Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Mrinal Chauhan failed to live up to the pre-tournament hype and were knocked out 3-5 by Canada in their opening match.

The loss also ended the hopes of another gold medal clash between home favourites South Korea and India, who had finished top-two in the qualifying round.

India took the opening set (59-50) dropping just one point, but the Canadians Eric Peters, Brandon Xuereb and Reece Wilson-Poyton replied strongly with a 58 to win the second set by two points.

From then on, India lost the plot and hit three 8s in the third set to score a lowly 53, while Canada shot 57 to take a 4-2 lead.

A 55-all tie in the fourth set was enough for Canada to knock out the Indians in their title defence.

The recurve women’s team of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur also lost their opening match, going down to Vietnam 4-5 (53-57, 56-55, 56-59, 57-52) (25-27) in a shootoff.

A sloppy 53-point start cost them dear as they started on a backfoot and trailed 2-4. A 57-point in the fourth set forced the shootoff where Vietnam overpowered the Indians 27-25.