India settle for three golds, performance below-par

New Delhi: Home pressure and huge expectation to make it 'big' did the Indian archers in as they settled for three gold, one silver and four bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games.

Amid the disappointment, 17-year-old Deepika Kumari emerged as the "future" of Indian archery with the prized scalp of Olympic bronze-medalist Alison Williamson en route to her double-gold medal effort.

Having trained for the Games for two years in SAI Kolkata, Indians had aimed for six gold medals out of the eight -- four each in recurve and compound sections -- on the platter.

The biggest disappointment came when the reigning World Cup (State 4) champions men's recurve team fell way short of expectation to return with a bronze.

The failure meant the top-ranked recurve archers fell one gold medal short.

Advertisement

India hoped for two gold in compound team gold which appeared a little unrealistic as the men returned with silver, while women claimed the bronze in an unprecedented success.

In individual recurve section, India hoped for a clean sweep in both the men's and women's sections.

Advertisement

But Tarundeep Rai and Bombayla Devi Laishram failed to advance into quarters, leaving them in hope for a gold-silver finish in both the men's and women's sections. However, that also did not materialise.