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Parth Salunkhe became the first male archer from the country to win a gold medal in the recurve event at the Youth World Championships, helping India end its campaign with 11 medals. This is the country's best performance in the Youth World Championship. The 19-year-old from Satara in Maharashtra won the gold medal after defeating the Korean archer in the Under-21 men's recurve individual final in Limerick, Ireland on Sunday.
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Parth Salunkhe, who topped the ranking round, defeated seventh-seed Song Injun 7-3 (26-26, 25-28, 28-26, 29-26, 28-26) in a hard-fought five-set match. Injun hit two perfect 10s and three 9s from the first six arrows to leave Parth Salunkhe 1-3. The former national champion fought back from the pressure to win the third set by two points to make it 3-3. Salunkhe maintained his rhythm thereafter while Injun crumbled under the pressure. The Indian hit two 10-pointers and a 9-pointer to take a 5-3 lead and then finished it off with two X's (right in the middle of the target).
Parth Salunkhe, the son of a teacher, was first recognized by coach Praveen Sawant in 2021. Salunkhe then trained under Ram Avdesh at the Sports Authority of India Center in Sonepat. He is the first male archer from India to become the youth world champion.
India also won a bronze medal in the Under-21 women's recurve individual event. In the bronze medal match, Bhaja Kaur defeated Su Hsin-Yu of Chinese Taipei 7-1 (28-25, 27-27, 29-25, 30-26). In women's recurve section, Deepika Kumari had become cadet and youth world champions in 2009 and 2011, a feat that was emulated by her Jharkhand statemate Komalika Bari in 2019 and 2021.
Team India's Standings in Medal Table:
India's campaign ended with six gold, one silver, and four bronze medals, the highest in terms of total medal tally. The team, however, finished second only to Korea in terms of rankings. Korea topped the list with six gold and four silver medals.