It was a battle between two 20-year olds at the iconic Christiansburg Palace of Copenhagen with Stephen Hansen holding a home turf advantage against India’s Rajat Chauhan. With the home favorite Hansen carrying his nation’s expectations on his shoulders, he knew pretty well that Chauhan had been one of the most consistent archers on the international circuit. It showed in the first set, when both archers shot 29 out of 30. The story got repeated in the second set, at the end of which the scores were tied at 58-58. Chauhan slipped in the third and allowed a three-point lead by scoring 10. 8 and 9 while Hansen found a perfect 10, 10, 10. But Chauhan didn’t give up as he sprang back to produce scores of 10, 10, 10 in the fourth set. That brought the score to 115-117. In the final set, however, the Dane scored all the 30 points to Chauhan’s 28. It was all over for the Indian, as the gold went out of his reach. Amidst loud cheering by home fans, the young Dane walked away with top honors in a 147-143 victory.
The show is not yet over for the Indian archers at Copenhagen. They have two more medal prospects on Sunday. In the recurve section for women, India’s team of Deepika Kumari, Rimil Buriuly and Laxmirani Majhi can clinch gold if they beat the Russian team of Inna Stepanova, Tuyana Dashidorzhieva and Ksenia Perova in the final. In any case, the silver is assured even if India lose out to the Russians. In the individual recurve section, Laxmirani Majhi will eye for the bronze, when she takes on Korea’s Misun Choi for the third place play-off.