Archery World Cup: Indian men to clash for gold

Kolkata, April 5 (IANS) The Indian men's recurve team reached the final of the team championship in the World Cup archery meet (Stage 1) at Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

The top seeds drew a bye in the opening round and went on to annihilate Turkey 222-203 in the quarterfinals before overcoming a strong US 219-215 points in the semis Saturday, according to information received here.

The Indian team, comprising Rahul Banerjee, Mangal Singh Champia and Jayanta Talukdar, is now assured of at least a silver as they lock horns with Britain in the gold medal play-off. The Britons are represented by Laurency Godfrey, Simon Terry and Alan Wills.

The women's compound team, comprising Jhano Hansdah, Bheigybati Chanu and Manjudha Soy, will take on Venezuela in the bronze medal play-off.

Earlier, the Indians beat Colombia 207-200 in the quarterfinals but lost to the US in the semifinals at 220-225.

Success eluded the women's recurve side and men's compound team. The threesome of Dola Banerjee, L. Bombayla Devi and Reena Kumar, having got the top billing, failed to live up to expectations by going down to Britain by just a point 207-208 in the quarters. The men's compound outfit, consisting of Khuraijam Ratan Singh, Chungda Sherpa and Chinna Raju Srither, lost to Mexico in the quarterfinals 214-218.

Earlier, Dola Banerjee and Reena Kumari made it to the bronze medal play-off in the women's individual recurve section to assure India of a medal.