India Dominates Asia Cup Archery with 8 Medals, Sweeps Compound Podium

Uday Kamboj outclassed Asian Games medalist Prathamesh Jawkar 145-144 to claim gold in an all-Indian men's individual compound final, while Rajat Chauhan edged past Peerawat Rattanapongkiat of Thailand 145-144 to make sure India completed a podium sweep, as per Olympics.com.

Trailing Prathamesh 57-59 at the second end, a perfect 30 from Uday in the third helped him move to a lead in the fourth end and win the medal.

India also captured the women's individual compound archery event after Tejal Salve defeated Mariia Dimidiuk 144-135. Tejal was simply sensational as she dropped just six points across 15 arrows.

India's compound archery also extended to team events, with gold and silver coming in the mixed and women's team events, respectively.

In the compound mixed team, a category which will make its Olympic debut at Los Angeles in 2028, India's top-seeded pair of Chikitha Taniparthi and Rajat Chauhan went back home with gold, outclassing Malaysia's Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh and Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki 158-156 in a tightly fought match, dropping just two points across 16 arrows, while the Malaysians dropped four.

Chikitha and Rajat started off brilliantly with four successive 10s and could afford to dominate the proceedings despite brief blips in the middle. After three ends, the lead was of one point at 118-117. The Malaysians had got themselves some control as they shot a perfect 40 while India scored 39. But the Indian pair came in clutch in the final end, scoring four successive 10s, while Malaysia managed 39, enabling India to get a two-point win.

Chikitha and Rajat topped the qualification round with a total of 1409 earlier, then beat Chinese Taipei and Kazakhstan in the elimination rounds to make it to the gold medal match.

Also, the women's team of Chikitha Taniparthi, Raj Kaur and Tejal Salve missed a gold by just two points, settling for a silver after a 227-229 loss to Kazakhstan's Viktoriya Lyan, Diana Yunussova and Roxana Yunussova in the final.

Halfway through the match, India held a two-point lead of 115-113 and had a fine start, but a disappointing third end saw them score 54, while Kazakhstan scored 58 to overcome the deficit and take a lead of two points at 171-169.

The Indian women's compound team had dominated the qualification charts with a total of 2080 before beating Hong Kong China and hosts Thailand to set a title clash with Kazakhstan.

The men's compound archery team of Rajat Chauhan, Uday Kamboj and world No. 4 Rishabh Yadav and the Indian women's recurve team of Ruma Biswas, Kirti, and Ridhi had won bronze medals on Wednesday.

Six medals on Friday across individual and team competitions helped India finish with eight medals, including two gold, two silver and four bronze.

*Asia Cup 2026 archery, Bangkok: Indian medal winners-Uday Kamboj (men's compound) - gold medal-Chikitha Taniparthi, Rajat Chauhan (mixed team compound) - gold medal-Prathamesh Jawkar (men's compound) - silver medal-Chikitha Taniparthi, Raj Kaur, Tejal Salve (women's team compound) - silver medal-Rajat Chauhan (men's compound) - bronze medal-Tejal Salve (women's compound) - bronze medal-Rajat Chauhan, Uday Kamboj, Rishabh Yadav (men's team compound) - bronze medal-Ruma Biswas, Kirti, Ridhi (women's team recurve) - bronze medal.

- ANI