India has sent its biggest contingent for the Archery World Cup Final in Hermosillo, Mexico, as five archers have qualified for the season finale.
The event, scheduled to take place on September 9 and 10, features the winners of the four World Cup Stages that were held in Antalya (Turkey), Shanghai (China), Medellin (Colombia) and Paris (France). Additionally, the best ranked archers make the cut along with one host country representative.
In all, there will be eight competitors each in the men’s and women’s recurve and compound events.
Indians competing
India has strong representation in the compound archery events.
In the men’s category, Prathamesh Jawkar qualified by winning the World Cup stage in Shanghai, while Abhishek Verma will compete after winning the World Cup in Medellin.
In the women’s compound event, Jyothi Surekha Vennam qualified after winning gold in Antalya. She will line up alongside compatriot Aditi Swami, who won the Under-17 and senior World Championships within the space of a month. Swami herself earned the spot at the Finals based on her ranking.
Also competing is Dhiraj Bommadevara, who qualified based on his ranking in the men’s recurve event.
India has no representation in the women’s recurve event.
Format
Unlike in the World Cup stages, the Final will not have any qualification round to decide seeds.
Each event starts directly in the quarter-final, with the winners of each match making it through to the next round.
There will eventually be a gold medal match (final) and bronze medal match (third-place playoff).
Bommadevara is seeded sixth in the men’s recurve event, but he will have a tough quarter-final match against Kim Woojin of South Korea. Kim is a two-time Olympic gold medallist and the defending champion.
In the men’s compound event, Verma (seeded eight) and Jawkar (fourth) are placed in different halves of the draw. They take on American Sawyer Sullivan and Mexico’s Miguel Becerra in the quarter-final respectively.
Vennam and Swami too are in different halves of the women’s draw. Vennam though, the top seed, has a tough contest ahead of her as she faces five-time World Championships gold medallist Sara Lopez of Colombia.
Swami meanwhile plays Denmark’s Tanja Gellenthien. A win there could possibly earn her a semi-final match against second seed Ella Gibson of Great Britain.
Schedule and where to watch
Women’s compound is the first event of the World Cup Final. It will start at 4.30 am IST on September 10. The men’s compound event starts at 8.30 am IST on Sunday.
On September 11, the men’s recurve event will begin at 8.30 am IST.
The entire competition will be broadcast for television on Sony Sports Network and live streamed on Sony Liv.