Rookie para archer Pooja Jatyan made history on Sunday by becoming the first Indian to win a silver medal in an individual section of the Para World Championships here.
Pooja lost to Italy’s Petrilli Vincenza in the summit clash to end his dream run at the Para World Championships with a silver medal.
In a bid to become the first woman archery world champion at senior level, the 24-year-old from Gurugram faced the Tokyo Paralympic Games silver medalist in Italy in the final.
Pooja, who had polio since childhood, showed courage to take a 3-1 lead, but the Italian, world number 7, used her vast experience to bounce back and beat the Indian 3-7 (24- 24, 23-21, 26-28, 24-26, 25-27).
India ended its best para archery world championships with two silver medals, a first for the country.
India had already participated in two world championships – Beijing 2017 and Den Bosch 2019 where Paralympic archer Rakesh Kumar came close to winning the bronze medal.
In the final, Pooja and the Italian started with a tie in the first set before the Indian took a 3-1 lead, edging out her fantasized rival in the second set.
Vincenza picked up at the halfway mark, shooting a 10 and two 9s to take the third set and make it three-all.
Under the pressure, the Indian started to falter as she shot three 7s in the final two ends as a consistent Vincenza sealed the issue by winning the final two sets.
Earlier in the day, Pooja made history by becoming the first Indian to make the final in an individual section of the World Para Championships.
Indian compound archer (bodied) Jyothi Surekha Vennam has already competed in the recurve women’s final of the World Championships, winning a silver medal at Yankton 2021.
Pooja came from 0-2 down to beat Great Britain’s Hazel Chaisty, 49, 6-2 to secure India at least another silver medal of the current tournament.
The young Indian gave her best in the second set where she shot two 9s and an X. She led 28-24, 25-24 and 24-21 to win the last three sets and the match.
Qualifying as the fourth seed, Pooja earned a bye to the second round where she beat fellow senior Pooja Khanna 7-1.
In the next round, she overcame strong resistance from world number 6 Svetlana Barantseva of Russia to emerge 6-4 winner.
In the classic women’s open team event, however, Indian team Pooja and senior teammate Khanna failed to claim a third medal, losing to their opponents Mongolia 1-5.
India’s campaign also ended in the classic classic men’s open category after Tokyo Paralympic Games bronze medalist Harvinder Singh lost his pre-quarterfinal match against South Korea’s Park Jun Beom 4-6.
In straight sets, Singh put on an impressive show as he came back into the match winning the next two sets only to falter in the final one.
“It’s disappointing…I have to work on my shot once I get back,” Singh said, promising to come back stronger.
The mixed duo of Shyam Sundar Swami and Jyoti Baliyan opened India’s account with a silver medal — the country’s first medal at the Para World Archery Championships.
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