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The high-flying Indian men's compound archery team brought the glory home as they came from behind to get the better of France by two points in an intense finish to clinch the coveted gold medal in successive World Cup stages on Saturday.
In a repeat of the Stage 1 final, the fourth-seeded men's team, comprising Abhishek Verma, Aman Saini and Rajat Chauhan, found itself trailing against its sixth-seed rivals in the first two ends.
But riding on an immaculate finish in the third end the trio sealed a 232-230 win over its French counterparts Adrien Gontier, Jean Philippe Boulch and Qentin Baraer to win the World Cup Stage 2 gold.
In the last World Cup final at Antalya in April, the same Indian trio defeated France by one point.
Star Indian compound archer Verma went on to win a second medal when he along with Avneet Kaur pipped higher-seeded Turkey's Amircan Haney and Ayse Bera Suzer 156-155 to win the bronze in the mixed team event.
For Kaur, this was her second bronze having won a team bronze in the women's event earlier.
Starting off with 39-all, the sixth-seeded Indian duo trailed by two points in the second end (77-79) with its fourth-seeded rivals shooting four 10s including three Xs (closer to the centre).
Verma and Kaur narrowed the deficit to one point in the third end shooting 39/40 and finished off in style with a perfect fourth end -- four 10s including one X.
"It's our second consecutive win (this season). We were the best in Turkey and we proved it again. We are very happy about that," Verma said.
"We know the strategy of France and we know their potential. We changed our strategy after the third round and it helped up," Chauhan pointed out.
Later in the day, world number 223 Mohan Bhardwaj, who made his World Cup debut only last month, secured the biggest win of his career when he shocked his world number 7 Austrian opponent 143-141 in the semifinal en route to claiming silver.
Trailing by two points after the first two ends, the 32-year-old, who won a silver at this year's Senior Nationals, produced a remarkable comeback by winning the third with two 10s to level it 85-all.
Having fallen behind by one point in the fourth end, Bhardwaj finished it off in style with three 10s.
The Uttarakhand archer's dream run finally ended in the final by none other than Dutch world number one Mike Schloesser (141-149).
This was his first individual medal on the international stage. Bhardwaj had won his maiden international medal, a team silver, at the Bangkok Asian Championships in 2019.
