Indian archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam lost a nerve-wracking final to Colombian heavyweight Sara Lopez to clinch a silver in the compound women’s individual section at the World Championships here on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Indian was at her best and shot a perfect final end but the five-time World Cup champion Sara was superior to clinch the issue by two points (146-144).
For Jyothi, this was her second silver medal at the World Championships as she became the only Indian archer to have four podium finishes at the showpiece biennial competition.
Jyothi had bagged a silver (Mexico 2017) and a bronze (Den Bosch 2019) in the team events at previous World Championships.
Earlier on Friday, Jyothi was a member of the Indian women’s and mixed pair compound archery teams which signed off with silver medals after lop-sided losses to Colombia here.
India were in pursuit of their first ever gold medal at the world event.
For a country that doesn’t have a gold yet, India have climbed the most podiums at the event — 11 —, appearing in nine finals and leaving with silver each time.
Jyothi dished out a consistent display shooting 28, 29 and 29 in her first three ends, but the Colombian top seed opened up a two-point lead at the halfway mark, drilling in seven perfect 10s with two X (closest to the centre) from nine arrows.
The sixth seeded Indian shot three 10s from three arrows in the final end but that was not enough as Sara wrapped up the gold medal match by two points.
Jyothi, however, upgraded the bronze medal she had won two years ago, as the Andhra archer concluded her campaign with three silver medals.