India achieved a historic milestone as the men's compound archery team secured their first-ever gold medal at the World Archery Championships on Sunday. The winning team consisted of Aman Saini, Rishabh Yadav, and Prathamesh Bhalchandra Fuge.
The Indian team defeated the French squad comprising Nicolas Girard, Jean Philippe Boulch, and François Dubois. France had previously won gold in Jakarta 1995, when compound team events were first introduced to the World Championships.
The Indian team's journey began in the second round with a thrilling shoot-off victory against Australia, winning 30-28 after a 232-point tie.
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They continued their success with a close 234-233 win over America in the quarterfinals and a 234-232 victory against Turkiye in the semifinals.
Rishabh Yadav collected his second medal of the day, competing alongside Jyothi Surekha Vennam in the compound mixed team event. The Indian pair earned silver after losing to the Netherlands' Mike Schloesser and Sanne de Laat in the final.
Rishabh and Jyothi have had an impressive year together. They set a world record at Shanghai 2025 World Cup stage 2 in May and secured gold at Central Florida 2025 World Cup stage 1.
The duo also won bronze at Madrid 2025 World Cup stage 4.
The pair demonstrated exceptional accuracy throughout the tournament. They dropped only six nines in three matches and achieved a perfect score of 160 with 7 Xs against Germany in the second round. They followed this with a 157-155 victory over Chinese Taipei in the semifinals.
This silver medal marks India's second compound mixed team medal at World Championships, following their previous silver in Yankton 2021, where Jyothi partnered with Abhishek Verma.
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