World Archery C'ships: All three Indian men compound archers bow out in quarterfinals

India’s men’s compound archers Rishabh Yadav, Aman Saini, and Prathamesh Fuge reached the quarterfinals at the World Archery Championships but were unable to progress further, ending their medal hopes in the individual category.

The trio had made history a day earlier by claiming India’s first-ever team gold in the men’s compound section.

Fuge, the lowest-ranked Indian qualifier at 19th, had stunned the archery world by defeating world number one and 2013 world champion Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands with a flawless 150 out of 150 in the pre-quarterfinals.

Yadav also impressed, beating Estonia’s Robin Jaatma 148-140, while Aman Saini advanced past France’s Jean Philippe Boulch 144-143 in a tightly contested pre-quarterfinal match, setting up exciting quarter-final clashes for all three archers.

In the quarterfinals, Rishabh Yadav faced world number three and top-seeded French archer Nicolas Girard in a tightly contested match.

Both archers began strongly, trading 10s in the early ends, but Girard held his composure in the final end to narrowly defeat Yadav 146-145, concluding Yadav’s bid for an individual medal.

Prathamesh Fuge went head-to-head with world number two Mathias Fullerton of Denmark in a thrilling encounter.

Both archers finished with 148 points, pushing the match into a shoot-off. Fullerton’s perfect 10 narrowly edged out Fuge’s 9, bringing an end to the 22-year-old’s historic run.

Aman Saini faced strong opposition from Curtis Broadnax of the USA in his quarterfinal.

Despite a competitive start, Saini couldn’t maintain consistency in the later ends, allowing Broadnax to secure a 147-144 victory, concluding India’s quarterfinal campaign in the men’s compound individual event.