Thinking of season ahead not LA28, says Jyothi Vennam after India win gold, bronze in archery World Cup

Auburndale (USA), April 13 (IANS) As India became the first mixed team to claim 2025 World Cup glory as the compound archery world builds towards its Olympic debut in Los Angeles 2028, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Rishabh Yadav faced questions over India's chances in the Olympic Games.

India also won a bronze medal in the Compound Men's Team competition. The Indian team of Rishabh Yadav, Pravin Deotale and Abhishek Verma finished third behind the USA and Italy.

Jyothi, however, said for the time being they will concentrate on the busy season ahead, focussing on one event at a time instead of thinking of the Olympic Games.

Jyothi and Rishabh Yadav defeated Huang I-Jou and Chen Chieh-Lun of Chinese Taipei 153-151 across the usual four compound Ends in Central Florida 2025 to win the first major international competition since the groundbreaking announcement, made earlier this week, that compound mixed team will be an event for the next Olympic Games.

“I’m just happy that I won the gold medal today and I hope to continue the run in the next World Cups too. LA is a long way to go but this year we have the World Championships, the Asian Championships, and the World Cups, so we just want to focus on shooting our best in each and every tournament and winning as many medals as possible for our country,” Jyothi told World Archery, the global governing body for the sport, in an interview after their triumph.

With the path to the Olympics cleared, the stakes for this particular discipline therefore have never been greater and Central Florida provided an inkling of who could be etched into compound history forever.

Unsurprisingly, India took the initiative by retaining their World Cup first stage title won in 2024 in Shanghai although this time it was the 22-year-old Yadav, instead of Abhishek Verma, partnering world No.4 Jyothi Surekha Vennam.

“100%... so far,” said a joyful Yadav on whether Saturday’s victory was an inclination to the future. “It’s just a pressure for me because she’s (Jyothi) the dominant person on this team and I need to be the silent one but as you know Indian kids are not silent.”

It also established Jyothi Surekha as the top contender for a medal in Los Angeles as she won her 21st World Cup medal, all in compound disciplines. However, her latest medal came in a far from comfortable way.

The 2022 Asian Games champion paved a two-end lead for Taipei after dropping a nine in her first shot and then an uncharismatic wide eight at the start of the second end, going 77-75 down from eight arrows.

Jyothi, however, regained her composure, bringing together all the experience she has learned since making her senior debut in 2011 and hit four 10s, including two Xs, in her next four shots.

Meanwhile, in the Compound Men's Individual semifinal, India's Abhishek Verma failed to win a medal after losing in the bronze medal match.

After losing to Sebastian Garcia of Mexico in the semifinal in a shoot-off following a 144-144 tie, Verma failed to recover from the heartbreak as he went down to Chen Chien Lun of Chinese Taipei 141-145 in the bronze medal match.

After losing the first two Ends narrowly, Verma won the third End to narrow the gap. However, the Chinese Taipei archer won the next two Ends to claim the bronze medal.

However, the exploits of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Rishabh Yadav and Abhishek Verma have proved that India would be a front-runner for medals in compound archery at the Los Angeles Olympics if they continued on the same trajectory.

--IANS

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