Rajat Chouhan and Manjudha Soy lost out by one point in the compound mixed team final to earn India a silver medal in the Archery World Cup Stage II at Antalya, Turkey on Saturday.
This was India's only medal at the event.
The unheralded Indian duo had a slender 112-111 lead against the Italian world champions Sergio Pagni and Marcella Toniolli at the end of third set.
But the inexperienced Indians faltered by a couple of millimetres in the final arrow to go down 149-150 in a thrilling contest.
India have never won a gold medal in the compound event and their previous best in this format was in the Ogden World Cup 2011 (Stage III) when the women's team of Manjudha, Gagandeep Kaur and Jhano Hansdah had won a silver.
This is a second World Cup silver for Railways girl Manjudha, who hails from Jharkhand, while it's a first-ever silver in the mixed team event in the compound section.
Having just won a team bronze earlier in the day, Pagni quickly adapted to the windy condition along with his partner as the Italian opened up a three-point lead (39-36) in the first end.
However Tonioli was caught by the wind in the second end with a 6 but Italy still held their lead (74-73) at the midway stage.
India's score of 39 in the third end put them in the driving seat as they snatched the lead (112-111).
But the match resulted in a tie before the final two arrows and Italy shot two perfect 10s to put pressure on India.
The duo crumbled under pressure with a 10-9, the last arrow being just a couple of millimetres out to miss out on what could have been a historic gold for India.
Earlier, the fancied Indian recurve archers had crashed out before the quarters as India concluded their campaign with the silver lining from the compound archers.
