Abhishek, Surekha to lead India’s charge at Asian championships

World Championship silver medallists Abhishek Verma and V. Jyothi Surekha were on Monday named in India’s squad for the upcoming Asian Championship in Dhaka.

Abhishek, Rishabh Yadav, Mohit and Aman Saini form the compound men’s team while the women’s team features Surekha, Muskan Kirar, Priya Gurjar and Parneet Kaur as the Archery Association of India (AAI) announced the team.

The 22nd edition of the continental tournament will be held in Dhaka from November 13 to 19. Following the World Championship in the USA in September, Abhishek and Surekha shot perfect scores of 150 in their respective gold medal matches to emerge as individual champions at the 40th NTPC National championships in Jamshedpur last Wednesday.

In men’s recurve, the Indian team comprises Kapil, Parth Salunkhe, Sukhchain Singh and Pravin Jadhav.

The women’s recurve team consists of Ridhi, Ankita Bhakat, Komalika Bari and Madhu Vedwan.

Both Abhishek and Surekha had bagged a mixed team silver in the World Championships in Yankton, USA, before their impressive show in the Nationals.

In the individual event at Yankton, the 23-year-old Ankita held her nerve to eliminate Korean World No. 4 Kang Chae-Young.

Komalika won the under-21 World Championship title in Wroclaw, Poland, to add to the u-18 title she won in Madrid in 2019, becoming the second Indian woman to achieve the feat after Deepika Kumari.