Kolkata: India’s compound archers once again hogged the limelight as Rishabh Yadav and Jyothi Surekha Vennam led the country’s superb show in clinching the top seeding in both individual and team events at the fourth and final stage of the Archery World Cup in Madrid on Tuesday. Twenty-two-year-old Yadav not only topped the men’s qualifying, but also set a world record with women’s top seed Vennam to score 1431 and surpass the previous mixed team world record of 1429, held by Denmark’s Tanja Gellenthien and Mathias Fullerton since the Krakow-Malopolska 2023 European Games. “It’s special because the (compound) mixed team is newly added to the Olympics,” said Yadav. “We didn’t shoot mixed team together at the last two stages, but now we’re back. We’re happy with the consistency we have together,” Yadav, who also won mixed team gold with Jyothi at the season opener in Florida, added. Reigning Asian Games champion Vennam took the top spot in the women’s section with a score of 715 points. Yadav led the 85-athlete field from start to finish at Vallehermoso Stadium and hit 716, his highest score on the international circuit, with 68 of his 72 arrows hitting the 10-ring, including 35 Xs. The women’s team of Vennam, Parneet Kaur and 16-year-old debutant Prithika Pradeep later got past El Salvador (235-226) and Indonesia (230-226) to set up a summit clash with Chinese Taipei. The men’s team of Yadav, Priyansh and comeback man Aman Saini, however, crashed out in the quarterfinals losing 233-234 to France.
