World Archery: India's Rajat Chauhan settles for silver

Indian archer Rajat Chauhan bagged a historic silver for India as he put up a tough fight but went down to Stephan Hansen of Denmark in the men's compound final at the World Championships here on Saturday.

He lost 143-147 even as he became the first Indian compound archer to win an individual medal at the world championships.

Chauhan, who became the first Indian compound archer to qualify for the archery World Cup final last year, fought neck and neck with the talented Dane, who had the home crowd rooting for him at the Sundby Idratspark.

The two players were locked 58-58 after the first two ends of six arrows, before the Indian had a poor third end to fall behind at 85-88. In contrast, Hansen seemed to grow in confidence and hit three tens in the third end while Chauhan had to be satisfied with 27.

Stung by the reverse, Chauhan upped the ante in the fourth end, picking up 10-10-10 to close the gap to two points at 115-117.

However, Hansen, who captured his fourth world championship title during the day, was in full control in the final round as his three arrows fetched a full 30 points. In contrast, Chauhan could score 28.

Chauhan had earlier this week breezed past Camilo Andres Cardona of Colombia in the semis 143-138 after beating Canadian Kevin Tataryn in the quarterfinals 146-143.