Akash Malik-led team bags gold as India end Asia Cup stage 3 with 10 medals

Dubai, Dec 27 (IANS) Ace Indian archer Akash Malik, who won a silver medal in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, has made the country proud yet again by winning the Men's Recurve Team gold at the Asia Cup Archery Stage 3 in Dubai.

Parth Salunkhe and Mrinal Chauhan are the other members of the team which took down South Korea in the final.

The final was a close affair with India and Korea staying tied at 4 points each in the regular game, forcing the match into a shoot-off.

In the shoot-off round, the Indian archers piped Korea by 1 point to win the gold medal. The final score read Korea 26 and India 27 in the shoot-off.

In the individual event, Akash Malik went down fighting in the quarterfinals.

Talking about his performance in Dubai, Akash said,"I am very happy that we won gold at the team event. Parth, Mrinal, and I performed really well. We played together as a team and to our strengths which is the reason, we won gold. This win will surely motivate us and help us reach newer heights and make India proud."

India dominated the competition, held between December 20-25, and ended the Asia Cup Archery Stage 3 with 10 medals -- five gold, three silver and two bronze.

India had a podium sweep in the women's individual compound event as Pragati won gold, Aditi Gopichand Swami took silver and Parneet Kaur bagged bronze.

In the Women's Team Compound, the Indian combination of Pragati, Aditi Gopichand Swami, and Aishwarya Sharma won the gold medal.

The other Indian winners were: Men's team compound: Priyansh, Ojas Pravin Deotale, Manav Ganeshrao Jadhao - gold; Men's individual compound: Priyansh - gold; Ojas Pravin Deotale - silver; Mixed team recurve: Parth Sushant Salunke, Tisha Punia - silver; Men's individual recurve: Parth Sushant Salunke - bronze