Sahil Jadhav, Simranjeet Kaur Reach Last Four

Amravati: Indian compound archer Sahil Jadhav and recurve archer Simranjeet Kaur overcame the stiff challenge of their rivals to storm into semifinals of their respective individual events at Archery World Cup Stage 2 in Shanghai on Friday.Though all four Indian men compound archers were in the field of 32 for individual events, only Jadhav and Kushal Dalal could reach the last eight. Nagpur's Ojas Deotale and Abhishek Varma exited early. Deotale lost 146-150 to R Jaamta of Estonia while Varma was eliminated 147-149 by Jadhav.In the quarterfinal, Jadhav tamed Australian Nico Weiner 10-9 in a shoot-off after both were tied 147-147. Jadhav, individual gold medal winner at 2025 World University Games, will now meet Nicolas Girand of France in the semis on Saturday. Girand defeated Bangladesh's Aishwarzo Rahman 147-145 in the semifinal. Mexican Sebastian García Flores and 40-year-old Martin Damsbo of Denmark also reached the semis through shoot-off.Damsbo, the Paris 2013 archery world cup final champion, got the better of Indian archer Dalal in a close quarterfinal encounter. Both archers couldn't be separated at 147 apiece after 15 arrows in overcast conditions in Shanghai. The two mirrored each other's scores in three of the five ends. Damsbo took the lead in the second end before Dalal equalised proceedings in the fourth by shooting a 30 to Damsbo's 29. However, in the shoot-off, Damsbo's 10 was closest to the centre spot. Damsbo will meet Flores in the semifinal on Saturday. Indian women compound archers suffered a bad day in the office. Shanghai 2025 individual gold medalist Madhura Dhamangaonkar lost in the second round. In women's recurve individual, Simranjeet Kaur turned India's unlikely hero as she stormed into the last four stage. Simranjeet doubled Chinese Taipei's Fang You Jhu's 10 count of two in the quarter final, dropping an impressive 27, 28, 29 three-end score to sweep aside her counterpart 6-0. Simranjeet will meet Kang Chaeyoung of Korea in the semis on Sunday. Another Korean Jang Minhee will take on Zhu Jingyi of China in the other semifinal.