Jyothi Surekha Vennam was instrumental in India's compound
team clinching two medals at the Archery World Cup.
It’s been an eventful year so far for Jyothi Surekha Vennam,
one of India’s best compound archers. Last month, she teamed up with Abhishek
Verma to win bronze at the Archery World Cup (Stage 1) in Shanghai. Barely two
weeks later, she announced that she would go on an indefinite hunger strike in
her hometown Vijayawada, due to the alleged delay in payment of Rs 1 crore
promised to her by the Andhra Pradesh government, after she received the Arjuna
Award for 2017. The 21-year-old, however, called off the strike after receiving
assurances from government officials. The off-field distraction did little to
dampen Jyothi’s spirits though, especially in the run-up to the ongoing World
Cup (Stage 2) in Antalya.
The young archer continued her impressive form and found the
cool and windy climes in Antalya much to her liking. Consequently, she was
instrumental in India’s compound team clinching two medals at the showpiece
event at this pristine beachside town. First up on Friday, she combined with
Divya Dhayal and Muskan Kirar to win silver in the women’s team event. They
went down to Chinese Taipei 228-231 in a close final.
Jiwanjot Singh, the coach of the compound team told that Jyothi’s role in the middle was crucial.
“Her presence definitely helped, because others were relatively inexperienced,
while Jyothi was in good form and had won a medal for us at the last World Cup.
So, she knew what was expected from her in this important match.”
Winning these medals will not be the only takeaways for
Jyothi. On a personal level, she also broke the individual national record
during the qualification round, where she scored a stunning 706 (out of 720).
In doing so, she even bettered the personal best of Abhishek
Verma’s 705 he had achieved in this tournament. “She was off to a phenomenal
start here. Her personal best put her in second spot in the individual
rankings,” Singh said. From winning three medals from the two World Cups,
breaking the individual national record, and then climbing to the second spot
in rankings, 2018 just keeps getting better for the archer from Vijayawada. Her
team will be hoping that she carries this form into the Asian Games, which
begins in over two months.
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