Teenage archers Kirti, Prithika seal World Cup semifinal berths, eye double medals

Madrid, Jul 10 (PTI) Teenagers Kirti Sharma and Prithika Pradeep kept India's medal hopes alive, advancing to the semifinals in their respective events but senior stars Dhiraj Bommadevara and Jyothi Surekha Vennam bowed out in the Archery World Cup Stage 4, here on Friday. Competing in her debut World Cup season, the 19-year-old Kirti produced the biggest result of her career by upsetting world No. 11 Elia Canales of Spain in the women's recurve quarterfinals, while Prithika moved within one win of a maiden World Cup medal in the women's compound section. Both Prithika and Kirti, in fact, will be eyeing a double. Prithika along with Jyothi and Chikitha Taniparthi have already confirmed a medal, advancing into the final of women's compound team event. Recurve mixed team of Dhiraj and Kirti will fight for a bronze on Sunday. Seeded fourth after qualification, Kirti recovered from losing the opening set to defeat Canales 6-2 (27-29, 29-26, 27-26, 28-26) and book a semifinal clash against Turkey's Elif Gokkir. Prithika, who had made her World Cup debut at the same venue last year, defeated Spain's Andrea Munoz 140-135 in the women's compound quarterfinals to set up a last-four meeting with Malaysia's Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh. Beginning her campaign from the round of 32, Kirti announced herself in style by defeating Germany's double Olympic medallist Michelle Kroppen 6-2 (30-23, 27-25, 25-22, 27-26). She opened with a perfect end of three 10s and maintained her composure throughout to outclass the experienced German. The Indian then survived a stern test against Chinese Taipei's Li Tsai-Chi in the pre-quarterfinals, prevailing 6-4 (29-27, 27-29, 27-25, 27-27, 28-28). After sharing the fourth set, Kirti held her nerve in the deciding set as both archers shot 28, with the Indian progressing by virtue of winning more set points. She reserved her best for the quarterfinal against Canales. Kirti lost the opening set 27-29 as the Spaniard dropped just one point from three arrows. The Indian responded emphatically with a superb 29 in the second set while Canales managed only 26 to level the contest at 2-2. Kirti edged the third set 27-26 before sealing the match with another 28-26 effort in the fourth to complete a memorable victory. Prithika also enjoyed an impressive run in the compound competition. The 19-year-old edged South Korea's Park Jungyoon 145-144 in the opening knockout round before producing another splendid show to beat USA's Liko Arreola 147-146 in the pre-quarterfinals dropping just three points. She carried that confidence into the quarterfinal, defeating Spain's Andrea Munoz 140-135. However, the senior archers capped a disappointing outing. Jyothi, enduring a lean run over the past few months, looked to have rediscovered her touch when she defeated fourth seed Wei Fangyao of China 148-146 after dropping just two points from 15 arrows. But the triple Asian Games gold medalist could not sustain the momentum, losing a closely fought pre-quarterfinal 146-147 to Turkey's Hazal Burun. In the men's recurve section, India No. 1 Dhiraj suffered a heartbreaking quarterfinal exit despite another high-quality display. Fresh from winning his maiden World Cup gold medal in Antalya last month, Dhiraj had qualified second behind legendary Korean Kim Woojin and entered the elimination rounds as one of the favourites. Facing Germany's Leon Zemella, the Indian lost a dramatic contest 5-6 after an 8-9 shoot-off. After losing the opening set 27-28, Dhiraj was at his flawless best shooting six perfect 10s across three sets, while Zemella shot 30, 28 and 29 as the Indian led 5-3. Needing only a drawn fifth set to seal victory, Dhiraj faltered with a 26, while Zemella responded with a perfect 30 to force a shoot-off. In the one-arrow decider, Zemella shot a nine, while Dhiraj's arrow landed in the eight-ring, ending his campaign. PTI TAP UNG