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The Indian men's recurve team has advanced to the finals in the first stage of the Archery World Cup 2023 in Antalya, Turkey on Thursday.
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The team of Atanu Das, B Dhiraj, and Tarundeep Rai will face China in the gold medal match on Sunday in the Archery World Cup 2023 men's recurve team event in their quest for India's first World Cup gold after 13 years. For the first time in nine years, the Indian men's team has reached the final of the World Cup. India won their first World Cup 13 years ago. The Indian team made it to the title match by defeating Chinese Taipei and Netherlands.
The men's recurve team, which had a first-round bye after qualifying as the fourth seed, faced a tough challenge in the Archery World Cup 2023. They defeated 13th seed Japan 5-4 in the shoot-off to win 29-28. The Indians scored two perfect 10s from three attempts (10, 10, 9) in the tie-breaker. After that, both the teams were tied 4-4 (49-52, 57-52, 54-51, 52-57). ) after four sets of rapid shooting.
Thereafter, it was smooth sailing for the Indian trio. They defeated 12th seed Chinese Taipei and ninth seed Netherlands by identical 6-2 margins. After that, India set up Archery World Cup 2023 summit clash with second-seed China. The Netherlands will take on Slovenia in the bronze play-off. It was an easy out against Chinese Taipei as the Indian men's recurve team took 4-10s including an X before sealing the points 6-2 (55-54, 57-54, 51-53, 58-56).
Next, it was the Netherlands who were on a high after eliminating top seed and tournament hosts Turkey (6-0), a team that included reigning Olympic champion Mete Gazoz. The Dutch took a 2-0 lead but the Indians came back strongly to win 6-2 (56-58, 57-53, 57-55, 56-54).
Incidentally, it is in the same Mediterranean seaside resort of Antalya where the Indian men's recurve team tasted its first success at the World Cup in 2008. The team of Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia defeated their Malaysian rivals 218-215. After that, they pave the way for the first-ever recurve men's team gold medal at the World Cup.
Since then, the Indian men's recurve team has won five gold medals at the World Cup. India last won a World Cup gold medal in the men's recurve team event in 2010 in Shanghai. Tarundeep Rai, a 39-year-old Army jawan, was also a member of the gold-winning team in Shanghai. Along with him Talukdar and Banerjee beat Japan by 224-220 in the final.