Parth Salunkhe becomes India's 1st male recurve archer to win Youth World C'ship

Indias Parth Salunkhe on Monday became the first Indian male archer to win a gold in the recurve category of the Youth World Championships as the countrys contingent finished with its highestever tally of 11 medalsHailing from Satara in Maharashtra Parth provided the perfect icing on the cake by defeating a Korean in the Under21 mens recurve individual final here on SundaySalunkhe who topped the rankings round bounced back from behind to down seventh seed Song Injun 73 2626 2528 2826 2926 2826 in a hardfought fivesetterI try to live in the present and dont see whom Im up against By doing yoga and meditation it has helped me keep calm which helped immensely in the final Salunkhe told PTI from DublinIndia also clinched a bronze medal in the Under21 womens recurve individual section when Bhaja Kaur defeated Su HsinYu of Chinese Taipei 71 2825 2727 2925 3026India finished with six gold one silver and four bronze medals which was the highest in the standings in terms of total number of medalsAlso Read India clinch U18 and U21 gold medals in World Archery Youth ChampionshipsBut in overall rankings they finished second behind Korea who ended with six gold and four silver medalsSalunkhe trailed 13 after Injun hit two perfect 10s and three 9s from the first six arrowsJust when it seemed a familiar Korean dominance over India the former senior national champion Salunkhe fought back clinching the third set by two points drilling one arrow closer to the centre X to make it threeallPressure was writ large on Injun as Salunkhe went on to hit two 10s and one 9 to snatch a 53 lead before finishing off in style with two XsSon of a secondary school English teacher Salunkhe whose talent was first tapped by coach Pravin Sawant in 201819 became the first male archer to become a youth world championAfter Sawant discovered his talent Salunkhe trained under Ram Awdhesh at the SAI centre in SonipatHe has been like God to us he made some technical changes and as a result Parth has improved vastly under him his father Sushant Salunkhe saidIn womens recurve section Deepika Kumari had become cadet and youth world champion in 2009 and 2011 a feat that was emulated by her Jharkhand statemate Komalika Bari in 2019 and 2021Overall Salunkhe is the sixth Indian archer to become world champion in the youth showpieceCompound archers Palton Hansda 2006 and the duo of Aditi Swami and Priyansh who won here are the other youth world champions from IndiaSalunkhe had won a silver in the Singapore Asia Cup Leg 3 in June and two bronze medals in the same event in Sulaymaniyah and Sharjah last yearWith the World Championships and Asian Games teams already decided Salunkhe will be eyeing to make the senior team at the Asian Championships trials in OctoberWith PTI inputs