Parth Salunkhe wins Youth World Championship in recurve category
At the Youth World Championships, Parth Salunkhe became the first male archer to win a gold medal in the recurve division, and India finished with their highest-ever haul of 11 medals. The Under-21 men's recurve solo championship was won here on Sunday by a 19-year-old from Satara.
Salunkhe, who finished first in the rankings round, defeated seventh-seed Song Injun 7-3 (26-26, 25-28, 28-26, 29-26, 28-26). Bhaja Kaur's 7-1 victory against Chinese Taipei's Su Hsin-Yu in the Under-21 women's recurve solo competition earned India a bronze medal as well (28-25, 27-27, 29-25, 30-26).
India finished with the most medals overall, six gold, one silver, and four bronze, placing first in the rankings. However, they came in second place in the medal count behind Korea, who won six gold and four silver medals to take the top spot. Salunkhe was down 1-3 after Injun's first six arrows, which included two flawless 10s and three 9s.
When it appeared like Korea would once again dominate India, the previous senior national champion Salunkhe came back and won the third set by two points. To tie the match at three, he drilled an arrow that was closer to the centre (X). Salunkhe went on to hit two 10s and one 9 to grab a 5-3 lead before putting the game away with two Xs, putting a lot of pressure on Injun.
Salunkhe, a teacher's son, was the first male archer to win a juvenile world championship after coach Praveen Sawant saw his potential during the post-pandemic period in 2021. Salunkhe trained under Ram Avdesh at the SAI institute in Sonipat after Sawant recognised his ability.