Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday took to social media to congratulate the 'exceptional' Indian women's compound team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur for winning country's first-ever gold medal in the World Archery Championships, saying their dedication and hard work led to the outstanding outcome. Indian women's compound team defeated their top-seeded opponents Mexico 235-229 in the final. Earlier in the semifinals, the Indian trio had defeated champions Colombia 220-216. In the quarterfinals, India won 228-226 against Chinese Taipei.
"A proud moment for India as our exceptional compound Women's Team brings home India's first-ever gold medal in the World Archery Championship held in Berlin. Congratulations to our champions! Their hard work and dedication have led to this outstanding outcome," PM Modi wrote in the caption of his post.
The World Archery championship was organized for the first time in the year 1931. From 1995 onwards, compound events were organized. India made its debut in the World Archery Championship in 1981, Italy. In the previous edition of World Archery championship held in the Netherlands in 2019, India won a medal in the recurve category. The World Archery Championship is organized every 2 years. Till now, India has won 9 silver medals and 2 bronze medals in the history of this championship.
India had previously lost in the finals in the World Archery Championships four times in recurve section and five times in the non-Olympic compound discipline.
"We were focused on the process. We had won enough silver medals and we had decided yesterday that we will win the gold. This is a start and we will win more medals," Jyothi said.
Talking about the performance of the Indian men's team in the World Archery Championship, the team of Abhishek Verma, Ojal Deotale and Prathamesh Javkar were eliminated in the quarter-final match after a hard-fought battle against the Netherlands team. India men's team lost to Netherlands 230-235. In the mixed event also, men's team suffered a 154-153 defeat against America after an intense battle.