New Delhi: India’s long wait for a world medal in recurve archery stretched further as 15-year-old Gatha Khadake, the country’s last hope, went down fighting to world No. 1 Lim Si-hyeon in the pre-quarterfinals, ending the campaign in the Olympic discipline at the World Championships, here on Friday.
Before Gatha could even settle into the contest, it was all over in a blink as the Korean, a triple gold medallist from the Paris Olympics, sealed the match 6-0 without breaking a sweat playing in front of the home crowd.
Yet, despite the one-sided scoreline, the teenager’s fearless run to the pre-quarters on debut at the Worlds offers hope for the future in a discipline where India have consistently flattered to deceive.
India last won a recurve medal at the Worlds in 2019, when the men’s team of Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das and Pravin Jadhav settled for a silver at Den Bosch.
Gatha, appearing in only her second senior international meet, looked overawed by the occasion against the reigning Olympic champion.
Lim opened with three perfect 10s to seize control and the young Indian could only reply with two 9s and an 8, conceding the opening set 26-30.
Showing superb control, Lim chose to slow the tempo in the second set but still outscored Gatha, who slipped to two 8s and a 9.
India return empty-handed for third time in a rowFor a third successive edition, Indian recurve archers returned empty-handed.
The story was underlined by another abject show from Deepika Kumari, who bowed out in the very first round.
The six-time Worlds participant and four-time Olympian, still searching for her maiden medal at both events, lost a scrappy five-setter to little-known Indonesian Diananda Choirunisa.
Equally disappointing was Olympian Dhiraj Bommadevara, the country’s top-ranked recurve archer.
After a poor qualification round that saw him slip to 39th with 670/720, Dhiraj crashed out in his opener against Tokyo Olympic champion Mete Gazoz.
India’s medals, once again, came only in compound section with the highlight being a historic first-ever men’s team gold won by Rishabh Yadav, Prathamesh Fuge and Aman Saini.
Yadav added a second medal, partnering Jyothi Surekha Vennam to clinch the mixed team silver.
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