Indian compound archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam displayed some flawless shooting as she grabbed individual and mixed team gold medals in the World Cup Stage 1 in Antalya, Turkey, on Saturday.
Jyothi and her debutant partner Ojas Deotale narrowly missed a world record when they tamed Chinese Taipei 159-154 in the compound mixed team final to open India's account with a gold in the morning session.
While Jyothi had all perfect 10s in her eight arrows, the 20-year-old Deotale missed the centre once, in the final end when he shot a 9. The Indian duo missed the world record score of 160/160 by just one point.
This was also India's second ever World Cup gold medal in the mixed compound team event. Jyothi and veteran Abhishek Verma had clinched their maiden gold in World Cup 3 in Paris last year.
Returning in the afternoon session, the 2021 World Championship silver medallist Jyothi clinched her maiden individual gold at the showpiece with a one-sided 149-146 win over Sara Lopez of Colombia.
The win avenged Jyothi's Yankton World Championship 2021 defeat when she lost to the Colombian opponent in the final 144-146.
Jyothi-Deotale showed perfect chemistry
Despite the absence of India's multiple World Cup winner Verma, who failed to make the cut from the national trials, the new-look Indian pair hardly looked short on experience and hit the centre an incredible 15 times from 16 arrows to defeat their 12th-seeded rivals in a lopsided final.
The second seeded Indian duo drilled 15 perfect 10s, of which 12 times they hit the X (closer to the centre).
The second end was a fairy-tale affair as the Indians hit the X on all their four attempts to make it 80-76 in favour of them.
There was no stopping Jyothi and Deotale who continued their perfect shooting to race to a 120-116 lead in the penultimate end. It was just in the final end Deotale capped a 9 to miss a world record by a solitary point.
"We almost got it, but dropped a nine, so we will try it next time, for sure,” Deotale said.
The youngster, however, said the world record was not going through his mind.
"That was my mistake and I did something wrong, that's why it was a nine.”
Excited at the title win, Jyothi said: "We had a great start with mix team gold so we're hoping we have a very good year.”
Maiden individual gold for Jyothi
Having topped the qualification with a world record-equalling score, the world number 11 Jyothi carried her incredible shooting to individual compound section to bag her maiden gold.
While she had a flawless run in the mixed team final, the 26-year-old from Vijayawada dropped just three points in the semi-final and final.
A silver medallist at the Paris World Cup Stage 3 last year, Jyothi eliminated reigning world number one Ella Gibson of Britain 148-146 in a tight semi-final finish that went till the fifth and final end.
Jyothi and Ella were 118-all till the penultimate end. In the decider, the Indian held her nerves to seal the issue with three 10s, as her rival cracked under pressure by dropping two points.
Then in a repeat of the 2021 World Championship final, Jyothi and Sara were locked 30-all after both hit three 10s to begin with.
The Indian stepped up in the second end when she totalled 30 with two Xs (closer to centre) to take a slender one-point lead as Sara managed 29.
Jyothi extended her lead by two points (119-117) with three more 10s in the fourth end, where Sara once again dropped one point.
Maintaining her consistency, Jyothi wrapped up the issue with yet another perfect round to exact a sweet revenge on Sara.
Indian archers are in the hunt for two medals in the recurve section on Sunday.
The men's recurve team will fight for gold against China, while Army man Dhiraj Bommadevara is one win away from a medal, having made the semi-final.
