India get two new archery world champions

KOLKATA: India got two new world champions in the age-category as they ended with a haul of eight medals — four gold, two silver and two bronze — in the World Youth Archery Championships that ended at Winnipeg, Canada, on Sunday.

In both the finals, the Indian archers overcame the Korean challenge to reign supreme.In a topsy-turvy U-18 recurve individual final, Sharvari Shende upset third seed Kim Yewon in a shoot-off delivering a 10 after the Korean levelled the match from 1-5 down. The 16-year-old archer became only the third Indian world champion in the women’s U-18 recurve category after Deepika Kumari (2011) and Komalika Bari (2021).Seeded 20th after qualifying, the Pune girl stunned higher-ranked opponents including top seed Kim Minjeong of Korea 7-3 in the semifinal en route to the gold medal. “Am I really the world champion? Oh my God, it was amazing,” gushed the youngster after her win.Earlier, Chikitha Taniparthi bagged India’s firstever gold medal in the Under-21 women’s compound section easing past Korea’s Park Yerin 142-136 in the final.