Yecheon (South Korea): Young compound archer Prathamesh Fuge advanced into the semifinals but men's and women's recurve teams endured shock opening round losses in the World Cup Stage 2, here on Thursday. Reigning Asian Games champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam, who bagged a hattrick of gold medals at the Stage 1 Shanghai leg last month also fell by the wayside, going down to Sara Lopez 142-145 in the compound women's individual quarters.
The 21-year-old Fuge secured one of the top wins of his career when he shocked 2021 world champion and world No 6 Nico Wiener 146-145 to set up a semifinal clash against James Lutz of the USA. He mounted early pressure, shooting a perfect round of 30 in the first end, as the Austrian heavyweight struggled to come back.
Wiener managed to level 117-all in the fourth end, but Fuge held his nerves and dropped just one point in the final round to seal a thrilling one-point win. Multiple World Cup gold medalist Abhishek Verma made a second round exit, while Priyansh lost out in the pre-quarters. Coming on the back of shocking world champions South Korea to win the Shanghai gold, Indian men's team of Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Mrinal Chauhan failed to live up to the pre-tournament hype and were knocked out 3-5 by Canada in their opening match.