Indian men defeat Malaysia to win gold in World Cup

New Delhi, May 31 (UNI) The Indian men's recurve team comprising Rahul Banerjee, Jayant Talukdar and Mangal Singh Champia scripted history as they defeated Malaysia 219-215 to win the gold in the third leg of the World Cup at Antalya, Turkey.

India with 2,035 points improved its own record of 2,031 as they ousted former world champions Korea, Italy, US, France and Australia in the earlier rounds.

However, it worth noting that all the three archers hails from Jharkhand. While Talukdar and Banerjee are products of Tata Archery Academy, Mangal Singh Champia also from Jharkhand, but he currently represents railways.

There are four legs of the world cup held every year and this was the third leg in which India notched the gold yesterday.

According to the information received here Champia finished first, ahead of Park Kyung-Mo and Im Dong Hyun of Korea and team-mate Talukdar.

Talukdar was ranked first with 342 points after 36 arrows.

With 341 points, Champia temporarily clinched the second place.

Serrano of Mexico, a 2007 World Cup finalist, was a point behind at third place (340).

After a strong battle, Champia and Park Kyung-Mo were levelled 684 points at the end. However, Champia took the top slot which was largely due to his superb skills.

Two other Koreans Im (680) and Lee (675) clinched third and fifth places, respectively while Talukdar (678) and Banerjee (673) finished fourth and eighth respectively.

Meanwhile, in men's individual contest, India's Rahul Banerjee had narrowly missed a second successive World Cup final appearance with a one-point loss to the United States archer Bardy Ellison in the semifinal.

The Indian women's recurve team, consisting Dola Banerjee, Reena Kumari and L Bombayla Devi, lost in the first round to Japan at 191-193.

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