Verma third in qualification round

Asian Games gold medallist Abhishek Verma finished third in the qualification to move to the round of 32, scoring 710 along with two others in the first stage of the Archery World Cup, here today.

On a cold, damp morning through which no single archer stood out, Kim Jongho of Korea took the first seed with 31X, Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands came second with 28X and Abhishek's 18X put him in the third spot ahead of eliminations.

All three of them shot 710 out of possible 720 and seedings were decided on the basis of number of X managed by the archers.

In the round of 32, the Indian will begin his campaign against Romeo Alejandro Trevinon of Mexico.

Rajat Chauhan was the next-best ranked Indian in the qualification as he bagged the 26th spot and got the better of his team mate Sangampreet Singh Bisla (ranked 39) in the second round.

Chauhan will face Kristofer Schaff of the USA in round three