Indian recurve women team loses in final, settles for silver

Kolkata, July 10, 2011: The Indian recurve women’s team lost to Italy 207-210 in the final of the world championship at Turin on Sunday. The team, consisting of Deepika Kumari, Chekrovolu Swuro and Laishram Bombayla Devi, had one point lead at half way stage from where the former world champion took charge and won, according to an Archery Association of India Press release.

Maiden entry into the final did weigh heavily on the minds of the Indians. The presence of Deepika Kumari, the reigning world cadet individual champion won in 2009, did not inspire the Indians as the three shot a very poor third end for a score of 50 points out of 60. The Italians turned the table on their rivals with a fine round of 55 that not only neutralized India’s one point lead but gave the team a whooping four-point lead that stood the team well.

The Indians had the best round of 54 in the final end yet the team fell short by three points as the Italians celebrated the world title.

The Indians shooting order was Deepika, Chekrovolu and Bombayla.

Italy won silver at Beijing 2001 and won the world title in 1999 in Riom, France. They had met the Indians seven times before with a small advantage of 4-3 on the head to head clash. The last two encounters were in favour of the Italians, with wins at the Porec 2010 and Shanghai 2009 World Cup. The only positive the Indians carried into the final was their dramatic semifinal victory that dethroned World champion and favourites, Korea.

According to reports received from Turin, the two teams appeared quite nervous on the field. The shots by the six competitors were not as fluent as usual. After the first end, the scores for each team were quite low, 51-50 for the Indians.

The first 10 by Italy was scored at their tenth shot! But with two arrows out of the yellow in the second end, they still trailed by one at the half-way mark (102-103).

After two opening 8s by Guendalina Sartori and Jessica Tomasi to start the third end, the former world champion Natalia Valeeva showed the way to her teammates with a 10. The Italians were back on track with 10-9-10 after that. As their opponents Deepika Kumari/ Chekrovolu Swuro/Bombayla Devi only had a 50-point series at that time, the local team reversed the score to lead by four (157-153).

Tension was at it height in the last end! Before the last three arrows, the Indian team came back to three points and even two points after the Italian Sartori scored an 8. The last but one arrow was a 9 for each team and the gap remained. As the Bombayla finished with another 9 for her team, Valeeva needed an 8 to win. The experienced Italian thudded a 10 to give gold to Italy (210-207)!