India won its first gold medal at the World Archery Youth Championships in six years as the pair of Jemson Ningthoujam and Ankita Bhakat defeated Russia 6-2 in the final of the recurve mixed team event in Rosario on Sunday.
This is India's first gold at the youth championships since Deepika Kumari's victories in 2009 and 2011. India also bagged one silver and one bronze to return with three medals from the tournament. Ningthoujam and Bhakat, seeded ninth, had upset top-seeded Korea in the quarterfinals earlier in the tournament.
"I was initially feeling a little shaky but I shot very well and we won the gold. Now I'm happy," said Bhakat. "Our coach tried to encourage us both; he was shouting 'we have to win', 'we have to win', 'we have to win'," Ningthoujam said.
Ningthoujam also won a silver in the men's recurve team event with Shukmani Gajanan Babrekar and Atul Verma. The Indian team lost to Korea in the final.
India had earlier won a bronze medal in the compound cadet women's team event, where the team of Khushbu Dhayal, Sanchita Tiwari and Divya Dhawal defeated Great Britan 212-206 in the bronze medal play-off.
The mixed team gold is India's fourth gold medal-winning effort in the history of the tournament. Deepika had won the recurve cadet title in 2009 and the recurve junior event in 2011. Palton Hansda was the first Indian archer to be crowned world champion, when she won gold in the compound junior women's event in 2006.