12 March 2010 - Archery Test Event concludes with 9 more medals for India

Clean Sweep of Recurve Medal for Host Nation India New Delhi/Lausanne - 12 March 2010 The Archery Test Event for the Commonwealth Games concluded today with the individual finals. India was the best nation with 9 medals (including 3 golds) out of a possible 12.
      Recurve Men The Indian trio of Tarundeep RAI, Rahul BANERJEE and KAPIL was joined by the lone Malaysian CHU SIAN in the semifinals. CHU SIAN lost his semifinal match and met the very experienced BANERJEE in the bronze medal match. Twice BANERJEE came close to running out of time but managed to get his shot away each time. At one set each and a further set drawn, CHU SIAN was not so lucky and was red carded, losing the highest scoring arrow of that set. That gave BANERJEE 2 more points and despite a drawn final set, he held on for a victory 6 points to 4. Under the old system a discounted arrow would have meant certain defeat but with the set system an archer has the chance to fight back and even win the match. As for the gold medal final, it was 100% Indian featuring RAI and KAPIL. The former lost the first set of the match but went on to win the next three and the gold medal!
Recurve Women The women’s recurve division was a party for hosts India with all 4 semifinalists from that nation. SUSHMA lost to the 2009 Cadet World Champion Deepika KUMARI in the first semifinal, while team mates Pranitha VARDHINENI and Chekrovolu SWURO fought it out in the second semifinal for a place in the finals. SWURO won this match but lost the final to the young KUMARI! The bronze medal match between SUSHMA and Vardhineni was a close affair with the first 4 sets shared between the archers. Going into the final set VARDHINENI shot a perfect 10, 10, 10 to take the bronze medal. The gold medal match between SWURO and KUMARI also went the full 5 sets with the first 4 sets alternating between the two archers. In the 5th set the young KUMARI inched ahead taking it 26-25. India won all three medals in both the women’s and men’s recurve division!   Compound Men For the men’s compound division again it was a lone Malaysian archer breaking up the Indian group in the semifinals. In the first semifinal, the Indian National Champion Chinna Raju SRITHER lost in 5 sets (3-7) to compatriot Chungda SHERPA. In the other semifinal Muhammad Zaki MAHAZAN from Malaysia and Isaiad Rajender SANAM from India were tied after the first set. The Malaysian won the next three sets 29-28 to advance to the gold medal final against SHERPA. SRITHER took the bronze medal defeating SANAM in 4 sets finishing with a commanding 10-10-10. The gold medal match was very tight: SHERPA started with a flourish shooting 10-10-10 to take the first set. However his opponent came back to win the next teo sets with the fourth one drawn. In the final set MAHAZAN shot 10-10-9 to take out the set and the gold medal.   Compound Women The women’s compound was the only category with four nations featuring in the semifinals. Lucy O'SULLIVAN from Jersey easily defeated Tracey McGOWAN (SCO) in 3 sets 6-0 points. Second seeded Nichola SIMPSON (ENG) surprisingly lost to 6th seed Gagandeep KAUR from India in 4 sets 2-6 points. The bronze medal match was another one of 4 sets. With 2 sets drawn, Nichola SIMPSON was the more consistent archer and took the match 6-2. The gold medal match was closely fought going to 5 sets before Lucy O’SULLISAN overcame her Indian opponent, KAUR 7 points to 3.   Carole HICKS/Vanahé ANTILLE FITA Communication