NEW DELHI: Indian archer Bhajan Kaur shone amidst a lacklustre performance by her compatriots at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 held in Medellin, Colombia.
Making her debut in the World Cup season, the 17-year-old achieved an impressive ninth-place finish in the recurve women's qualification round, scoring 668 points. Her spirited performance was a bright spot for the Indian contingent on Wednesday.
Among the Indian women archers, Sangeeta secured the 30th position with a score of 651, followed by Tanisha Verma at 36th place with 648 points. However, the women's team slipped to the seventh position in the rankings.
Leading the way in the 72-arrow 70-metre round were the Koreans, as expected. Lim Sihyeon, the gold medalist from Shanghai, continued her excellent form and secured the top spot with a score of 684 points.
The Koreans dominated the top three places, with Kim Woojin finishing second and Lee Woo Seok and Kim Je Deok claiming the third and fourth positions, respectively.
In the men's recurve qualification round, Tushar Shelke emerged as the highest-ranked Indian archer, albeit in the 16th position.
Shelke scored 671 points, while the standings were dominated by the Koreans, with Kim Woojin leading the pack with an impressive score of 696 points, just one point short of his own Asian record set two years ago. Lee Woo Seok and Kim Je Deok followed closely behind, securing the second and third positions.
Mrinal Chauhan finished in the 20th position with a score of 670 points, while Dhiraj Bommadevara, who had previously won a bronze medal in World Cup Stage 1, slipped to the 23rd spot, just one point behind Chauhan.
In the team rankings for men's recurve, India secured the fourth position, setting up a potential semi-final clash with the top-seeded Koreans.
