Indian junior archers shine in Argentina
Dil Sccop with Pankaj Athawale
Indian mixed team pair of Jemson Ningtoujam and Ankita Bhakat won the gold beating Russia in a hard fought match. The 9th seeded Indian pair held their nerve to go past the chequered flag. They had beaten Korea, USA and finally Russia to win the gold
Earlier Jemson teamed up with Shukmani Babrekar and Atul Verma to take on the favourites South Korean in the junior men’s team event. This was again a close match as the Indian juniors had to settle for a silver.
India also won a bronze medal in the compound cadet women’s event. The junior recurve field was of 81 top junior boys and 64 girls.
The India recurve team included Madhu Vedwan, Ankita Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur in the girls and Sukhmani Babrekar, Jemson Ningtoujam and Atul Verma in the boys.
The compound team included Shanshah Biruli, Anuj Gupta and Gurjatinder Singh in boys and Madhumita Kumari, Purva Shende and Mrinal Hiwrale in junior girls.
These medals come after a drought of 5 years since Deepika Kumari won the recurve cadet title in 2009 and recurve junior title in 2011.
Sukhmani Babrekar hails from Solapur and is coached by Samir Mhaske, he is the current Maharashtra Champion.
Joint Secretary, Archery Association of India and Secretary, Maharashtra Archery Association Mr Pramod Chandurkar congratulated all the archers on their emphatic victory at Rosario, Argentina. Purva, Sukhmani, Ankita are products of the sustained training programs and efforts of the Maharashtra Archery Association.
