Aichi : Indian women’s recurve team of Ankita Bhakat, Kumkum Mohod and Kirti stunned 10-time champions South Korea to clinch its first-ever gold at the Asian Games.
Marking their India’s first-ever appearance in the Asian Games women’s recurve team final, India registered 5-3 over mighty Koreans in the challenging conditions to clinch the historic gold medal here at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square.
In 2010 and 2022, India had a bronze medal after losing in the semi-final. Notably, the Korean team had not lost a final except for the inaugural Asian Games in 1982 until Friday.
India earlier defeated China 5-1 in the semi-final to enter their first-ever recurve team final.
The first set was evenly contested, as both teams scored 54-54 each to tie the set, taking one point apiece.
Korea began the second set strongly with scores of 10, 9, and 9. India responded with 10 before Kirti scored 8, followed by Ankita, who made a crucial shot of 10. Korea then shot 10 and two 9s. Ankit managed to hit one right at the centre, but Kirti followed with an 8, putting pressure back on the 17-year-old Kumkum, who shot brilliantly, scoring a 10 to tie the set, bringing the scores to 2-2
In the third set, Korea started with an 8 but then recovered with 10 and 9 from their next two shots. India opened with a 10, followed by 9s. In their subsequent three shots, Korea recorded three 8s, which gave India a strong opportunity to win the set. India then began with an 8, followed it up with a 9, and finally, Kumkum scored 10 to secure the third set, taking the lead at 4-2.
In the fourth set, Korea began with two 9s, followed by 10. India did fumble with two shots of 8, 8 followed by 9. Korea then hit 8, 9 and 9. In the last three decisive shot, Kirti started with 9, and Ankita followed with another 9 before Kumkum hit 10 to tie the set, sealing a 5-3 win.
A couple of hours after the Indian women’s team took the historic gold, the mixed recurve team of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Kumkum Mohod backed it up by adding the silver at the Aichi-Nagoya Games on Friday. The Indian combine lost to China 5-3 in the final after beating Japan in the semi-final to fall one step short of securing an early quota for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
This is India’s first medal in the mixed-team recurve event, which became part of the Asian Games programme in 2018.
China had the first set comfortably in the bag at 38-34 after Dhiraj started with an 8 and Kumkum shot a rare lowly 7 across her day’s twin finals. After a red-hot team final, Kumkum, already a gold medallist earlier in the day, was having somewhat of an off-colour start to the mixed final.
The teen shot a couple more 8s, which meant that despite Dhiraj hitting 10, China also took the second set 37-35. China were almost at the finish line, until India were suddenly handed a lifeline. Li Mengqi, needing an 8 to tie the set and take the match, sprayed a 7 as India stole the set 37-36.
Mengqi soon redeemed himself. With a 10 required to avoid a shoot-off, his final shot delivered just that. India’s fightback fell short after it had crossed the line against Japan.
