India won gold in the men's compound team event at the Archery World Cup after defeating Colombia in the final in Shanghai on Saturday. Abhishek Verma, Chinna Raju Srither and Amanjeet Singh combined to beat the Colombian team of Camilo Cardona, Daniel Munoz and Jose Carlos Ospina by a score of 226-221.
This is the first time that India has won gold in the compound team event at a World Cup. Verma had previously won silver in the men's individual category at the 2015 World Cup Final in Mexico, after winning a gold in the same category at the Poland World Cup that year.
India led by one point (58-57) at the conclusion of the first end in the final as Verma scored two 10s. They extended the lead to three points (116-113) after the second end as Verma replicated his performance in the first end.
Both the teams scored 52 in the third end as India continued to lead by three points. Verma did well in the final round too as India scored 58 -- two more than Colombia -- to win by five points.
"This is the first time we shot together as a team," said Verma. "Before coming here we planned every detail to make it work. We all shot well throughout the week and what we really want is to create a good impression of us in front of other teams. There are so many strong compound men's teams around the world and, considering the Worlds in Mexico later this year, we need to keep shooting as we did here to get a good result there.
"Right now, our team is made up of three men with different experience but our training is showing we're doing well. We are all the same; we all talk, make decisions together no matter how long we've been shooting for or what we've achieved."
Seeded fourth, India beat Vietnam, world champions Iran and top-ranked USA on way to the final.
Later in the day, Verma narrowly missed out on a second medal as he lost the bronze medal playoff against the USA in the compound mixed team event, where he was partnering Jyoti Surekha Vennam. The USA won by a score of 153-151 as the Indian team squandered their lead at the completion of the third end by scoring a seven on their third arrow in the fourth end.
This is the first of four World Cups this year and the first big event after last year's Rio Olympics.