Poor start by Olympic hopefuls in archery

It was a none-too-impressive beginning to the Olympic calendar year for Indian archers as they finished with a solitary silver medal in the World Cup Stage I, which concluded in Shanghai on Sunday.

The women's compound team lost to Italy in the bronze play-off to end

their campaign with only one medal -- the silver that was earned by the women's recurve trio of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Chekorvulo Swuro.

India had a poor ninth-place finish in the 12-team medal standings that was topped by the USA with five gold, one silver and one bronze, while Korea (2-0-1) and France (1-2-1) finished second and third respectively.

The London Olympics-bound trio of Deepika, Bombayla and Swuro had lost to their Korean counterparts in the team final to settle for a silver, India's only medal from the season opener.

India had a ray of hope on Sunday, in the compound women's bronze play-off but Gagandeep Kaur, Parveena and Jyothi Surekha were thrashed by the Italian trio of Anastasia Anastasio, Laura Longo and Marcella Tonioli.