India win compound mixed team gold, women claim silver at Asia Cup Stage 1

India’s compound archers delivered an impressive performance, clinching the mixed team gold and women’s team silver at the Asia Cup–World Ranking Tournament Stage 1 in Bangkok on Friday.

The results took India’s medal tally to four — one gold, one silver and two bronze — after earlier podium finishes by the women’s recurve team and the men’s compound team on Wednesday.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The Indian contingent could further swell the tally, with four more medals assured later in the day. India have entries in three finals, including the women’s recurve individual event featuring Ridhi Phor, the men’s recurve team final, and the men’s compound individual event that will see an all-Indian showdown for the title.

Mixed team pair hold nerve under pressureThe highlight of the morning session came from the top-seeded compound mixed team duo of Chikitha Taniparthi and Rajat Chauhan. The pair edged past second-seeded Malaysia 158-156 in a tense gold medal clash that was decided by fine margins and remarkable composure.India dropped just two points across 16 arrows, while the Malaysian duo of Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh and Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki dropped four. Chikitha and Rajat began strongly with four consecutive 10s and maintained their rhythm despite a brief shift in momentum midway through the match.

After three ends, India held a narrow 118-117 lead. Malaysia briefly surged in the third end with a perfect 40, while India managed 39. But in the decisive final end, the Indian pair responded with four successive 10s to seal the victory, as Malaysia could only produce 39. The gold also marked a turnaround after India returned empty-handed in the mixed team event in the previous edition.Women’s team settle for silverLater, the Indian women’s compound team of Chikitha, Raj Kaur and Tejal Salve secured silver after losing a closely fought final 227-229 to Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Lyan, Diana Yunussova and Roxana Yunussova.India had led 115-113 at the halfway mark after 12 arrows, but a costly third end — where they scored 54 while Kazakhstan shot 58 — swung the match. The final end finished level at 58-58, with Kazakhstan’s third-end surge proving decisive. Despite the defeat, the silver marked an improvement from India’s bronze medal finish in the previous edition.