Jemson Ningthoujam and Ankita Bhakat won gold in the mixed team event of Archery World Youth Championships held in Rosario, Argentina. The junior men’s recurve team, which also included Jemson, settled for a silver. India’s third medal came in the compound cadet women’s team event with Khusbu Dayal, Sanchita Tiwari and divya Dhayal picking up a bronze.
India’s gold medal at the World Youth Championship came after 6 years. Jemson and Ankita won the gold after it was last won by Deepika Kumari in 2011 when she had triumphed in the recurve junior category. Deepika had also won a gold in the recurve cadet category in 2009.
Ningthoujam and Bhakat, seeded ninth, had upset top-seed Korea in the quarterfinals, before beating their Russian opponents 6-2 in the final yesterday. “I was initially feeling a little shaky but I shot very well and we won the gold. Now I’m happy,” said Bhakat. “Our coach tried to encourage us both; he was shouting ‘we have to win’, ‘we have to win’, ‘we have to win’,” Ningthoujam said.
