Hangzhou: Archers continued to add to the country’s medal rush, with Pravin Ojas Deotale and Abhishek Verma clinching gold and silver medals respectively in the men’s compound archery at the 19th Asian Games on Saturday.
Pravin defeated Abhishek to bag the gold medal by a margin of 149-147. With these medals, India has now aggregated 9 medals, including 6 golds in compound archery. This is the best performance registered by India in the compound archery event.
With the medals in archery and other events on Saturday, India achieved its quest of aggregating 100 medals this Asiad.
India’s medal count in the Hangzhou Games currently stands at 100 — 25 gold, 35 silver and 40 bronze.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed India’s historic feat as he wrote on X, “A momentous achievement for India at the Asian Games. The people of India are thrilled that we have reached a remarkable milestone of 100 medals. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to our phenomenal athletes whose efforts have led to this historic milestone for India. Every awe-inspiring performance has made history and filled our hearts with pride. I look forward to hosting our Asian Games contingent on the 10th and interacting with our athletes.”
Earlier, India’s Jyothi Surekha Vennam bagged gold medal in the women’s compound archery, taking the country a step closer to the 100-medal mark this Asiad.
The rising Indian archer defeated South Korea’s Chaewon So by a margin of 149-145.
Aditi Gopichand also secured silver in the women’s compound archery, defeating Indonesia’s Ratih Zilizati Fadhly by a margin of 146-140.