Singapore: India’s junior archers returned with nine medals — two gold, six silver, and one bronze — from the Asia Cup Leg 2 here on Friday.
It seemed a successful outing on paper, but a deeper look once again highlighted a troubling trend that has come to define Indian archery at all levels — faltering when it matters the most.
Despite making seven of the 10 finals across recurve and compound disciplines, Indian archers finished on top of the podium just twice.
The rest of the finals — five in all — ended in heartbreak, with the Indians visibly crumbling under pressure.
It wasn’t so much that the losses stood out, but the manner in which the Indian archers lost was more concerning with top seeds going down to lower-ranked opponents, arrows straying to outer rings, and composure evaporating at the slightest of resistance.
As usual, the results were particularly alarming in recurve the Olympic discipline — where India failed to win a single gold.
In fact, apart from two silver medals in team events, the recurve archers returned empty-handed.
The men’s team, top-seeded after the qualification round, simply fell apart against Japan in the final.
Vishnu Choudhary, Paras Hooda, and Juyel Sarkar failed to touch the 50-mark in two of the three sets, bowing out in straight sets 6-0.
It was a similar story in the recurve mixed team final.
Fourth-seeded Choudhary and Vaishnavi Pawar were error-prone throughout their clash against Indonesia.
A 32-point start, followed by a disastrous second set that included a one-pointer, effectively sealed their fate.
The lack of rhythm and nerve showed again in the third as they lost 32-35 to finish with silver.
The women’s recurve team, along with all individual recurve entries, failed to even reach the medal rounds, an outcome that underlined India’s deepening struggle in the discipline while they continue to chase a maiden Olympic medal.
If the recurve results were disheartening, the compound section offered some respite, albeit not without its own share of missed chances.
Incidentally, they bagged both their gold medals here.
Kushal Dalal, the top seed, justified his billing by easing past Australia’s Joshua Manon, seeded 22nd, in the men’s individual final 149-143.
India also bagged a bronze in this event, with Sachin Chechi, who was seeded 10th, defeated fourth-seeded Himu Bachhar 148-146 in a tight playoff.
In the women’s event, the gold was assured as it featured two Indians — second-seeded Tejal Salve prevailing over the higher-ranked Shanmukhi Naga Sai Budde 146-144.
There were also a few near-misses for the Indians.
The men’s compound team, also top-seeded, was stunned by third-seeded Kazakhstan 231-235.
The women’s compound team lost in the shoot-off to lower-ranked Malaysia after being tied 232-all, with the shoot-off score reading a disappointing 26-29.
The mixed compound team of Shanmukhi and Dalal lost a lead (78-77) at halfway stage against Kazakhstan, faltering in the crucial third end before losing in the shoot-off.
