India's compound archery mixed team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Rishabh Yadav clinched the gold medal at the World Cup Stage 1 in Auburndale, Central Florida, on Saturday, days after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved the inclusion of compound archery in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

As the IOC included the compound mixed team event in the Games, taking the total number of archery events to six, Jyothi and Rishabh's victory came as a big boost.

Jyothi and Rishabh paired up to beat Chinese Taipei’s Huang I-Jou and Chen Chieh-Lun 153-151, staging a stunning come-from-behind victory in the final set to win the title.

Huang and Chen only had a slender one-point lead after the first set. In the second set, they extended it further by another point.

The Indian duo, however, closed the gap down to one point again, before Huang and Chen suffered a slump in form in the final set, where they could only collect 36.

This was Jyothi's fifth gold in the mixed team event at the World Cup, while Rishabh laid his hands on the yellow metal for the first time.

After winning the title, Jyothi said, “I did not think separately that it is an Olympic event now. The thought, as always, was to give our best here and to fight till the last shot,” Vennam was quoted as saying by The Indian Express from Florida. “Now that the spotlight will be on compound archers as it is now an Olympic event, I am more glad to start (the season) with a gold medal.”

For the first time since the reintroduction of archery at the Olympic Games in 1972, a new bow discipline has been added to the multi-sport quadrennial spectacle. Archery returned to the Olympics with two individual recurve events, while team competitions were introduced in 1988. A fifth medal event - the recurve mixed team -made its debut at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

India emerged as a force to reckon with in the compound mixed team event. At the Asian Games in 2023 in China, India dominated the compound archery events in Hangzhou, winning all five gold medals on offer, with Jyothi registered a hat-trick of gold by winning the women's individual compound, women's team, and mixed team events.

In the compound mixed team event, India are currently ranked second in the world behind the United States.

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