By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
India’s women’s compound archery team produced a near-perfect performance to defeat China 238-234 and retain its Asian Games gold medal on Wednesday, taking the country’s gold-medal tally to seven and lifting it to ninth place in the overall standings.
Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep kept their composure under pressure to outshoot China in a high-quality final and match the world record score of 238 set by South Korea at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
The Indian trio made a perfect start, scoring 60 in the opening end against China’s 58. They maintained their two-point advantage in the second end and led 119-116 at the halfway stage.
China responded strongly in the third end, shooting a perfect 60 to reduce India’s lead to 178-176. But the defending champions produced their best when it mattered most.
India shot a perfect 60 in the final end while China managed 58, giving the Indians a four-point victory and the gold medal. Of India’s 24 arrows, 22 found the 10-ring, leaving the team just two points short of a perfect 240.
Prithika and Jyothi were flawless in the final, scoring 80 points each with all eight of their arrows hitting the 10-ring. Chikitha contributed 78 points, with her two nines accounting for India’s only dropped points.
The gold was particularly significant for Jyothi, who won her fourth Asian Games gold medal. For Chikitha and Prithika, it was their first Asian Games gold.
India had been pushed hard by South Korea in the semifinal earlier in the day, scraping through 234-233 before producing a considerably stronger performance against China in the final.
The victory was India’s seventh gold and took its overall medal tally to 54, comprising seven gold, 21 silver and 26 bronze medals, according to the latest tally. India consequently moved into ninth place in the Aichi-Nagoya standings.
The women’s compound team had also won gold at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, making Wednesday’s triumph a successful title defence.