It will be an all-Indian men’s compound open final at the seventh Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament in Dubai with Rakesh Kumar and Shyam Sundar Swami both leaving the rest of the field behind. Meanwhile, Jyoti Baliyan reached the final of the women’s event where she will face Russian Stepanida Artakhinova.
In the semi-final match, Kumar beat Turkey’s Aygan Erdogan 143-138 before Swami overcame a strong challenge from Slovakia’s former world no. 1 and defending champion Marcel Pavlik by just two points (145-143) on Wednesday. Pavlik will now play the bronze medal playoff against Erdogan.
Kumar was seeded eighth after qualifying and had earlier knocked out top qualifier Serhiy Atamanenko of Ukraine in the quarter-finals
“He (Swami) will never be an opponent for me. We both will play for India and the best player will take gold on Friday. If we start looking at the score then there will be pressure on us. So, I will be focusing on my technique which my coach had taught in training,” said Kumar.
Jyoti prevailed over Russia’s Dzhioeva Anastasia by just one point (139-138) in the semi-finals. Jyoti had won the mixed team silver along with Shyam Sundar at the 2019 Asian Championship.
“I was a little nervous at the start but controlled my nerves at the shooting line and shot confidently. My performance here has definitely boosted my confidence to secure a quota for India when we travel to the Czech Republic, the last qualifying event,” she said.
