IANS

Kolkata, Sep 5: India's men recurve archers hit the target as they finished third in team qualifiers that saw the South Koreans setting three world records on the third day of the 45th World Archery Championship at Ulsan (South Korea) Friday.

The Indian trio of Mangal Singh Champia, Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee cobbled together a total of 4,006 points to finish behind South Korea (4,122) and France (4,026).

The South Koreans bettered their existing word record of 4,074 set in 2003.

Champia ended seventh overall totalling 1,345, while Talukdar was 13th with 1,340 and Banerjee took the 32nd spot with 1,321 in a field of 115 archers.

Top Korean archer Oh Jin Hyek set two more records on a dramatic day when a lot of big names found the going tough. His individual total of 1,386 was better than 1,379 set by his compatriot Oh Kyo-Moon in 2000. Jin Hyek also set the record in 90m distance with a total of 342, that bettered his previous best of 337.

In a field of 16 top teams, India would be seeded third. Thus, they would not have to take on Korea before the final.

In the run-up to the world championship, the same three-member Indian men's team won two gold and a silver medal in the first three World Cup meets. The trio also gave India the Asian championship team gold medal in 2007 after a gap of 18 years.