But Ojas and Jyothi showed remarkable composure to drill in two Xs en route to shooting 40 in the fourth end to force a shoot-off where the Indians sealed the issue with their arrows landing near the centre.
Teenage quadruple amputee archer Payal Nag defeated world number one Sheetal Devi to win gold at the World Archery Para Series in Bangkok, leading India to a dominant performance with seven gold medals.
India's recurve archers once again flattered to deceive at the World Championships as the women's team lost to South Korea in the bronze medal play-off.
Emerging West Bengal archer Juyel Sarkar stunned veteran Tarundeep Rai, a four-time Olympian, to win the recurve gold medal at the 38th National Games.
India is set to begin the international archery season with a mix of young talent and experienced archers at the Asia Cup Stage 1 in Bangkok, opting to test their squad depth ahead of the Asian Games.
Compound mixed team in bronze play-off, Deepika, Salunkhe in recurve individual semis
Sheetal Devi, the armless archer from India, has been named 'Para Archer of the Year 2025' by World Archery, recognising her outstanding achievements, including a world championship title.
Simranjeet Kaur and Sahil Jadhav emerged as India's standout performers at the Archery World Cup Stage 2 in Shanghai, both advancing to the semifinals in their respective recurve and compound sections.
The Indian men's recurve team produced its most stirring performance in recent memory to stun heavyweights South Korea in a nerve-wracking shoot-off to clinch its first Asian Archery Championships gold in 18 years, in Dhaka, on Friday.
Indian compound men's and women's teams, considered strong medal contenders, endured a disappointing outing in Stage 2 of the Archery World Cup, failing to secure a podium finish after crumbling in crunch situations.
Jadhav strikes gold, Parneet silver as India end WUG archery campaign with five medals
Sheetal shines, but recurve concerns linger in Indian Archery 2025
Recurve mixed team of Tarundeep Rai and Ridhi Phor came form behind to pip Great Britain in the shoot-off on Sunday
Indian archers secured two bronze medals and advanced to the finals of the men's recurve and women's compound team events at the Asia Cup World Ranking Tournament Stage 1 in Bangkok. The team also confirmed three individual medals, but the recurve men's team faced disappointment.
Abhishek Verma added a gold medal to India's tally by clinching the top prize in the men's compound individual final
The recurve events saw a mixed day for India.
Yashdeep stuns Koreans, Anshika impresses as India take second spot in recurve
Indian men's compound archery team of Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan and Aman Saini downed France by one-point in a thrilling final to win the gold medal at the World Cup Stage 1 in Antalya on Saturday.
Indian archery endured a forgettable outing at Stage 3 of the World Cup in Antalya, Turkey on Saturday, returning empty-handed in a performance that raised serious questions over team selection, preparation and mental fortitude, especially with the Asian Games just a year away.
The archers have also confirmed 10 more medals including at least three gold on Sunday.
The 16-year-old is just the third Indian woman to become the under-18 recurve World champion after Deepika Kumari (2011) and Komalika Bari (2021).
The Indian junior archers capped a stunning show by winning eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals to top the medals tally at the Asia Cup Stage 2 at Sulehmaniya, Iraq on Wednesday.
American great Brady Ellison believes India's archers are always "in hunt" for that elusive Olympic medal.
Continuing her spirited progress post motherhood, former world number one Deepika Kumari eliminated Korean Jeon Hunyoung to storm into the semifinal, while compound archers continued to shine to assure India a fourth medal in the World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai on Friday.
The World Cup Stage 3 was the final chance for the non-qualified nations to make the cut based on their rankings.
The Indian trio of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Parneet Kaur and Aditi Swami ousted World No. 4 USA 233-229 in the semi-final.
Jyothi Surekha Vennam and her debutant partner Ojas Deotale were at their ruthless best while prevailing over Chinese Taipei 159-154 as India grabbed the compound mixed team archery gold to open their account in the World Cup Stage 1 in Antalya on Saturday.
She last won a medal in the World Cup Stage 3 where she had bagged a team silver.
Compound archery will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, providing a massive boost to India's elusive medal hopes in the precision sport.
The sixth seeded Indian mixed team will take on fourth-seeded Turkey in its bid to win country's third bronze medal from the meet.
Qualifies for India's able-bodied archery team for Asia Cup
In the semifinals, Yadav had lost 145-147 to American Curtis Lee Broadnax while Verma went down 145-148 to top seed Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands.
India had stormed into seven out of 10 finals.
The nerves were all too familiar for the former world No 1 Deepika who has failed to win a medal despite qualifying for multiple Olympic Games.
The team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Gopichand Swami and Parneet Kaur, who qualified as top seed, dropped just four points from 24 arrows to down the sixth seeds by a handsome margin and open their account in the season-opening global showpiece.
Earlier in the day, Dhiraj was also part of the Indian trio alongside veterans Tarundeep Rai and Atanu Das that settled for silver after a 1-5 loss to China in the team final.
India's archers showed tenacity and authority in equal measure to storm into the quarter-finals in all the six team events of the Asian Games.
World champion Aditi Swami also exited in the last-eight stage, losing 147-152 to Mexico's second-seeded Andrea Becerra.
There will be no South Korean participation in the inaugural Archery Premier League, denying Indian archers a chance to "test" themselves against their biggest nemesis in the world's first-ever franchise competition in the sport.
India is assured of a rare medal in tennis as Vaishnavi Adkar made it to the women's singles semifinals while most of her compatriots across disciplines failed to make a mark in the World University Games in Berlin on Tuesday.
