Verma bags historic silver in Archery World Cup Final

Delhi lad Abhishek Verma has bagged India’s first ever ‘Archery World Cup Final’ medal in the compound section when he won a silver after being pipped by Turkey’s Demir Elmaagcli in the summit clash here.

26-year-old Verma, an Asian Games individual silver medallist, capped an impressive campaign when he dealt a perfect 150 on giant killer Mario Cardoso in the semifinals but only to go down 143-145 in the gold medal match against Elmaagcli to settle for a silver.

India will be hoping for another medal from Deepika Kumari, a three-time World Cup Final silver medalist (2011-13), as she will be making a return in the showpiece event.

Seeded sixth, Deepika will open her campaign against Korean third seed Kawanaka Kaori in the quarterfinals. The Mexican Cardoso had, in the quarterfinals, upset the top seed Mike Schloesser but the Wroclaw World Cup champion Verma was supremely strong in the semifinals as he had five perfect ends to cap the maximum, including six shots closest to the centre en route to a 150-142 win.