"The first medal is always very special" - Jyothi Surekha Vennam on winning India's first-ever archery medal in World Games

Indian compound archery duo of Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma were elated after winning the country's first-ever medal in archery at the World Games.

Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma beat Mexico 157-156 to win the bronze medal at the ongoing World Games on Saturday (July 9).

After the match, Jyothi Surekha Vennam heaved a sigh of relief and said the focus was on shooting the best.

The archer told World Archery after the match:

"The first medal is always very special. We are very happy. It was a tied match and we did not know who would win until the last arrow. We just focused to shoot our best."

Read: India at CWG 2022: Full list of Indian athletes who have qualified for Commonwealth Games 2022 (Updated)

Abhishek Verma concurred with his match partner. He said that the bronze medal in the mixed team category has helped him overcome the disappointment of losing the men's individual bronze medal match.

He told World Archery:

"Finally I have a medal. Today was a bad day for me. You could see I was not shooting well, but we did it in the mixed team. I am happy that I will not go home without a medal."

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Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma in good form

The pair carried their superlative Archery World Cup form into the World Games and made history. The pair were in stupendous form at the World Cup Stage 3 in Paris last month where they won the gold medal in the compound mixed team event.

The Indian duo defeated the experienced French pair of Sophie Dodemont and Jean Philippe Boulch 152-149 in the summit clash to fetch India's first-ever World Cup gold in the compound mixed team event.

Andhra Pradesh-based Jyothi later won the silver medal in the compound women's individual archery event.

The medals come on the back of a horrid Asian Games trials where Jyothi Surekha was ousted in the first round of eliminations, thereby missing an Asian Games berth.

However, all is not lost for Jyothi Surekha Vennam as some superlative performances will see her get back into the Asian Games squad.

At the trials, Abhishek Verma was on cue, sealing his Asian Games berth with relative ease.