Archery: Parth Salunkhe becomes first Indian to win Youth World Championship in recurve category

Limerick. Parth Salunkhe became the first male archer from the country to win a gold medal in the recurve event at the Youth World Championships, helping India end its campaign with 11 medals. This is the country’s best performance in the Youth World Championship. The 19-year-old from Satara in Maharashtra won the gold medal after defeating the Korean archer in the Under-21 men’s recurve individual final here on Sunday. Salunkhe, who topped the ranking round, beat seventh seed Song Injun 7-3 (26-26, 25-28, 28-26, 29-26, 28-26) in a five-set thriller.

India also won a bronze medal in the Under-21 women’s recurve individual event. In the bronze medal match, Bhaja Kaur defeated Su Hsien-yu of Chinese Taipei 7-1 (28-25, 27-27, 29-25, 30-26). India’s campaign ended with six gold, one silver and four bronze medals, the highest in terms of total medal tally. The team, however, finished second only to Korea in terms of rankings. Korea topped the list with six gold and four silver medals. Injun shot two perfect 10s and three 9s from the first six arrows to leave Salunkhe 1-3. The reigning national champion came back from the pressure to win the third set by two points to make it 3-3.

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Sankhule then maintained his rhythm while Injun crumbled under the pressure. Salunkhe hit two 10-pointers and a 9-pointer to take a 5-3 lead and then finished it off with two X’s (right in the middle of the target). Salunkhe, the son of a teacher, was first recognized by coach Praveen Sawant in 2021. Salunkhe then trained under Ram Awadesh at the Sports Authority of India Center in Sonepat. He is the first male archer from India to become the youth world champion.