Jyothi, Ojas beat Koreans to compound gold

For someone of her promise and pedigree, it is oddly surprising that it took Jyothi Surekha her third Asian Games to finally win a medal.

- Shantanu Srivastava

And when she did, Vennam - joined by her mixed team partner Ojas Deotale -shot gold with a Games record score. On an ideal morning for archery with pleasant temperatures and a manageable breeze, the Indian duo beat the South Korean pair of Chaewon So and Jaehoon Joo 159-158 to win their first gold of the ongoing Games.

The mixed team gold is only second archery gold India have won at the Asian Games and follows the men's compound team's (Rajat Chauhan, Sandeep Kumar, and Abhishek Verma) feat from Incheon 2014. Still, when the reigning world champion Deotale and eight-time World Championships medallist Surekha took aim on Wednesday, the result seemed predestined.