Champia on top as Indian men shine in World Cup

Antalya, Turkey, May 29 (UNI) Olympic qualifier Mangal Singh Champia topped the individual event as Indian men claimed the overall second spot in the FITA round recurve bow qualification at the third Meteksan World Cup here.

Champia, who missed the world record of 687 by a mere three points, scored a career-best 684 points over two 70m rounds yesterday to occupy the joint first position along with Park Kyung Mo of Korea.

But the Indian had fired 41 ten pointers which enabled him to beat Park - who could only manage 37 - and qualify for the individual competition as the top seed.

Champia's performance was complemented by some gritty display by Jayanta Talukdar (678, 4th) and Rahul Banerjee (673, 8th) which saw the Indian men grab the second spot while Korea finished first with 2035 points.

Priyank, the other Indian in the fray, managed to put up 657 points to finished 29th.

India faced disappointment in the womens' section however, as medal contender Dola Bannerjee failed to qualify with a poor 591 to finish 67th.

However, Reena Kumari, Punya Prabha and Laishram Bombayla Devi qualified for the womens' individual main event as India totalled 1820 points to occupy the 13th position.

Reena finished 28th with 625 points while Punya Prabha was 46th with 608 points. Bombayla Devi was at the 49th spot with 604 points.

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