World archery championships 2021: Jyothi Vennam wins silver medal in individual compound event

India’s Jyothi Vennam bagged her third medal at the World Archery Championships 2021 in Yankton, USA on Saturday after winning the silver in the women’s compound individual event.

Jyothi Vennam was part of the Indian women’s and mixed compound teams which won silver medals in their respective events on Friday.

Just a day after the double triumph, the 25-year-old Jyothi Vennam, a former Asian compound champion and current world No. 13, maintained her momentum in the women’s individual finals.

The Indian compound archer began her day with a commanding win over Croatian world No. 19 Amanda Mlinaric. Jyothi Vennam turned up with a perfect score of 150 in the match against the Croat’s 144.

Jyothi Vennam’s semi-final clash against Mexico’s Andrea Becerra, the world No. 13, was a tighter affair with the Indian coming out on the right end of 146-144 scoreline to set up a gold medal clash against Colombia’s Sara Lopez.

Lopez, the world No. 3, has been in the form of her life at the Yankton meet and was part of the Colombian teams which defeated India to win both the women’s and compound team golds a day prior.

Jyothi Vennam tried her best to deny Sara Lopez a clean sweep of gold medals but fell narrowly short and went down 146-144.

Heading into the fifth and final set, the Indian was trailing by three points. She, however, produced a perfect 30 to try and put pressure on the Colombian right at the end but Sara Lopez responded with a 29 to win the tie by two points.

Despite losing out on the gold medal, Jyothi Vennam, a bronze medallist from the 2019 edition of the world championships in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, was happy to have upgraded her medal colour to silver this time around.

“This time it’s a change to silver, so I’m happy regarding that because I got to step ahead in life, but a little unhappy because I couldn't make it to the goal. I think it’s okay. It’s part of the game, winning and losing,” Jyothi Vennam said after her match.

“I’m happy because I made it to the final in all three areas, but a little disappointed because I couldn’t perform my best in the individual event,” she added.

In the men’s compound bracket, India’s Abhishek Verma, an Asian Games gold-medallist, couldn’t get past his opening hurdle of the day – a quarter-final clash against the world No. 1 Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands.

Abhishek Verma, who partnered Jyothi Vennam for the mixed team silver on Friday, lost 147-148 after a tough fight.

A 28 in the opening set put the Indian on the backfoot from the start and despite raking in three perfect 30s and a 29 in the subsequent sets, the Dutchman kept pace and clinched the tie by a single point.

On Sunday, the event’s final day, India’s Ankita Bhakat will be in action in the recurve women’s individual quarter-finals. No Indian has made it to the quarter-final stages of the men’s recurve event.