Compound archers Madhura, Rishabh in semis; recurve teams bow out in Shanghai World Cup

Shanghai, Indian compound archers continued their strong run at the Archery World Cup Stage 2 with Rishabh Yadav and Madhura Dhamangaonkar entering the individual semifinals, even as the recurve teams crashed out of medal contention here on Thursday.

Yadav emerged as one of the standout performers of the day, reaching the men’s compound semifinals after a tense quarterfinal shoot-off win over Denmark’s Mathias Fullerton.

Locked at 147-147, the fourth-seeded Yadav held his nerve to edge the shoot-off 10*-10, by hitting his arrow closer to the centre. He will now face world No. 1 Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands for a place in the final.

In the women’s compound section, third-seeded Madhura continued her impressive comeback by upsetting multiple World Cup gold medallist and teammate Jyothi Surekha Vennam 142-141 in the quarterfinals.

Competing in only her second World Cup since 2022, Madhura will take on Turkey’s Hazal Burun in the semifinal, needing one more win to confirm her maiden World Cup medal.

However, it was the end of the road for veterans Abhishek Verma and Uday Kamboj, both of whom exited in the second round of the men’s individual compound competition.

In the team event, the seventh-seeded Indian men’s recurve trio of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Atanu Das and Tarundeep Rai lost the bronze medal match 3-5 to the USA earlier in the day.

They narrowly lost the first set 56-57, with an arrow in the 8-ring proving costly. The American trio of Christian Stoddard, Brady Ellison, and Jack Williams then took a commanding 4-0 lead after dominating the second set 56-52. The Indians faltered under pressure, shooting two arrows into the 7-ring and mixing two 9s and two 10s, including one X . Trailing 0-4, India fought back in the third set, edging the Americans 55-54. However, their hopes of forcing a shoot-off were dashed as the fourth set ended in a 56-56 tie, with another crucial arrow landing in the 8-ring. Earlier, the Indian men lost a tight semifinal to France in a shoot-off, 4-5 , relegating them to the bronze-medal match. In the women's section, the team of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, and Anshika Kumari, who looked the most promising with a third-place qualification finish, made a shock exit in the pre-quarterfinals, losing to 14th-seeded Mexico 4-5 in the shoot-off. The Indian women started poorly with three 8s and a 7, losing the first set 49-50. They followed it up with another below-par round, dropping the second set 52-54 after again shooting three 8s. Trailing 0-4, they posted a modest 52 in the third set, but Mexico faltered even more, managing just 45. India capitalised with a 55-48 win in the fourth set to push the match into a shoot-off. However, the Mexicans pipped the Indians in the decider 27-26 to seal their place in the quarters. While India's recurve teams continue to struggle in pressure moments, their compound counterparts have been far more consistent. On Wednesday, the top-ranked Indian men's and women's compound teams assured the country of two medals by reaching their respective finals, where they will face Mexico. The contrasting fortunes once again highlighted India's urgent need for the revival of recurve squads in the lead-up to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

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