AJAI MASAND

JAKARTA: There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip, goes the saying. The same was writ large on the Indian men’s compound archers’ display at the GBK Archery Complex, as they settled for the silver medal after a dramatic shoot-off against South Korea.

The one overriding expression on the faces of the three Indian archers - Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan and the young Aman Saini - was that of utter disbelief as they lost by the thinnest of margins.

Aiming for gold, and just when it seemed the medal was in their pocket, a couple of calls went against the Indians as the Koreans got an escape route to sneak past the defending champions in the shoot-off.

Following the four series of six shots each, Korea seemed in dire straits as their score read 227, while India had 229 on the board. But there was a catch. Unlike in shooting where the computer displays the score, in archery it is done manually by coaches of the competing teams.

The two ‘9s’ that Korea had scored became ‘10s’ on inspection, matching their score with India. A stunning silence descended on the India camp and the hands that were raised for rejoicing, collapsed inertly.

CLOSE MISS

With the shoot-off looming, it was a matter of who would cower first. Both teams stood their ground - South Korea shot a 10, 9, 10, and India’s response was a 9, 10, 10 to be tied at 29 each. However for Korea, the differentiator was the first shot, where they had hit bullseye.

There were no wild celebrations in the Korean camp. They knew they had been through hell, not once but twice. One of their archers had to be given medical attention due to the extreme stress. The turn of events had left the Indian boys morose, although the coaches and the women’s team, which had earlier won silver, tried to cheer them up.

Coach Lokesh Chand ‘apologised’ for the loss. “We gave a strong challenge, but we are sorry for not being able to bring home a gold medal,” said the coach, adding the “match simply slipped out of our hand. The last tie (at 2014 Inchoen Games) we were in a similar situation and went on to win gold. This time they (Korea) won.”

The 24-year-old Chauhan, son of an advocate in Jaipur, and still waiting for recognition from the state government despite a host of medals at the international level, said: “The gold was in our grasp and it slipped. This time, luck did not favour us. We bettered our score from the last Games, but that too was not enough.”

SILVER FOR WOMEN

The women’s compound team - comprising Madhumita Kumari, Muskan Kiara and Jyothi Surekha Vennam were happy with the silver after their bronze medal at the last Games. They looked in contention for most part but a rank bad shot by Jyothi - who shot an 8 in the last series of six shots - ended their challenge and Korea won 231-228.