Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep held off China 238-234 in Nagoya, matching a decade-old world record along the way.
India's women's compound archers didn't just win gold in Nagoya on Wednesday, they matched history doing it. Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep shot a combined 238 to beat China 238-234 in the final, tying South Korea's world record score set back in 2014.
The margin sounds tight on paper. It wasn't, really. India took the lead in the very first rotation, three straight tens against China's three nines, and never let go of it through six rotations of arrows. China clawed back points here and there, closed the gap to two on a couple of occasions, but the Indian trio kept finding tens exactly when they needed them. The final end saw all three shoot perfect tens to seal it.
For Jyothi, this is her fourth Asian Games gold, which tells you where she sits in the pecking order of Indian archery. For Chikitha and Prithika, both making their Asiad debuts, it's their first taste of continental gold, and they didn't look like debutants for a second. Between them, the two combined for eleven tens in eight attempts across the semifinal alone.
A closer call against Korea
Getting to the final wasn't straightforward. India had to get past South Korea in the semis, and that one went down to the wire, a 235-233 finish that swung on the last set of arrows. South Korea, led by a 14-year-old named Kang who kept firing nines under pressure, pulled level at 175-175 midway through the second half. India pulled away again in the next two rotations, largely on the back of Chikitha and Prithika's accuracy, and closed it out by two points.
This gold is India's seventh at these Asian Games and pushes the country's medal count to 53, split across 7 golds, 21 silvers and 25 bronzes going by the numbers reported so far. Compound archery has quietly become one of India's most reliable medal factories at multi-discipline events, and Wednesday's final only adds to that reputation. Jyothi, in particular, has been at the centre of nearly every Indian compound archery triumph for the better part of a decade now.
What happens next for the trio depends on the individual compound events still to come at these Games, where at least one of them will fancy a shot at another podium finish. Team golds tend to open doors. Whether Chikitha or Prithika can carry Wednesday's form into an individual final is the question the rest of this week will answer.
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