Archer Mangal Singh Champia earns Olympic berth, India in medal hunt

Copenhagen: Mangal Singh Champia earned India an individual Olympic quota berth, while Rajat Chauhan and Laxmirani Majhi remained in the gold and bronze medal hunt in the World Archery Championships here today.

The 31-year-old former Olympian secured an individual berth for the 2016 Rio-bound squad when he entered the recurve quarterfinals defeating sixth seed Antonio Fernandez of Spain 6-2.

Mangal Singh Champia of India in action during at the Aoti archery range in Guangzhou during the 16th Asian Games in 2010. Pic/AFP

India have also secured a team quota berth in the women's section from the ongoing World Archery Championships.

Champia however lost out on medal contention after bowing to Elias Malave of Venezuela 4-6 as the 2008 Beijing Olympian surrendered a 2-4 lead for an unfortunate last eight exit.

After the men's team failed to earn a quota earlier, the Jharkhand marksman kept India's Olympic hopes alive as he began his day ousting another Spaniard Miguel Alvarino Garcia in the last 32.

Champia lost the first and third set to trail 2-4 before making a glorious comeback aided by some luck en route to a 6 -4 win.

Having shot two perfect 10s, the Spaniard misfired in the third end of fourth set for a poor one while Champia shot two 10s and one nine to make it 4-4.

Under pressure, Alvarino Garcia had another string of failures in the fifth set while Champia held on to the momentum and shot 10, 9, 9 to clinch the issue.

Chauhan ensured India a medal by making the final of the compound section, while Laxmirani Majhi advanced into the bronze playoff earlier in the day.

The 2014 Asian Games team gold medallist, Chauhan, thrahsed Camilo Cardona of Colombia 143-138 in a one-sided contest to set up a clash against local challenger Stephen Hansen in the final which will be held Saturday.