KOLKATA: It was so near yet so far for Prathamesh Jawkar who missed a gold medal by the narrowest of margins to end up with a silver in the World Cup Final in Hermosillo, Mexico, on Saturday.
A bronze medal also eluded India in the compound event when Abhishek Verma lost to World No. 1 Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands 150-149.
Jawkar began his maiden appearance in the World Cup Final with an easy 14 9-141 win against World No. 5 Miguel Becerra of Italy in the quarterfinals. The Maharashtra boy then shot a perfect 150 against Schloesser, whom he defeated to grab the gold medal in the men's individual event in the Shanghai leg of the World Cup, to beat the second-seeded archer by a point (150-149) and book a summit clash with Mathias Fullerton of Denmark.
In a battle of 20-year-olds, Fullerton took a one-point lead in the first end but the Indian levelled scores in the fourth to force a tie-breaker after being locked 148-148 at the completion of five ends. Although both the archers shot perfect 10s, the 10th-ranked Fullerton was declared winner as his shot was closer to the centre. "Jawkar shot an amazing X that would win 99 per cent of matches. I had a little advantage on him this time, that's how archery is," Fullerton later said.
The Danish archer earlier slayed Verma, who was the first Indian men's compound archer to win a silver at the World Cup Final in 2015, 150 147. However, it was heartbreak in the women's compound event as both Aditi Swami and Jyothi Vennam were ousted in the quarterfinals.
Reigning world champion Aditi was upset by Dane Tanja Gellenthien in the tie-breaker after the scores were levelled at 145 in five sets. Gellenthien progressed with a 10-9 margin in the one-shot tie-breaker.
Jyothi bowed out, losing to defending champion Sara Lopez of Colombia 149-144. Dhiraj Bommadevara will compete in the men's recurve event.
