Indian compound Para archers Shyam Sundar Swami and Jyoti Baliyan created history to enter into the final of the Mixed Team event at the Dubai 2022 World Archery Para Championships here on Wednesday.This is the first time Indian archers have made it to the gold medal match having participated in three World Championships now after the Beijing 2017 and 2017 and s-Hertogenbosch 2019 where Paralympian archer Rakesh Kumar came close to winning the bronze medal in the Netherlands.
On the second day of the championships, the pair of Swami and Baliyan shot brilliantly to defeat France comprising Julie Rigault Chupin and Thierry Joussaume 151-145 in the semi-finals.They had started the day with a win over Iraq 151-138 in the second round, before pipping Italy by just one point 147-146 in the quarter-finals.The team now faces the Russian Federation on Friday.
"It's a very proud feeling to become the first ever para-archer from India to win a medal at the World Championships. The entire team has worked very hard and I am happy that we could execute our plans and follow the process here as well. Dubai has been a happy hunting ground for me, three medals in three championships so far. I hope to make it memorable with a perfect score on Friday," Baliyan said.Speaking about her combination with Swami, the para archer from Goela district in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh added, "I enjoy playing the Mixed Team event more as the workload is divided. I know I have a backup if I make a mistake. As a pair, we have grown in many aspects."
The duo has been playing together since 2017 and have claimed the silver in the Asian Championships 2019 and Fazza World Ranking Tournament in 2021. Baliyan, however faltered in other events - exiting early in her women's doubles and individual events.In the compound men's open individual matches, Swami and Rakesh Kumar showed a lot of promise but faltered losing in fourth round and quarter-finals, respectively. While Swami lost to the eventual finalist Gombozhapov Aleksandr from Russian Federation 142-139, Kumar fell against top seed Bair Shigaev, also from Russian Federation, 145-143 in the semi-finals.The recurve open team and women archers including Paralympic medallist Harvinder Singh will start their campaign on February 24.