Jayanta Talukdar entered the final of the men's recurve section of the Archery World Cup Stage II in Porec, Croatia, on Thursday. He will face Olympic champion Italian Marco Galiazzo in the final on Saturday.
Talukdar, who is from the Tata Archery Academy, had been struggling for form following a shoulder injury and had a mediocre 2008. He had jumped to the top of the world rankings in 2005-06 and had won the Golden Arrow in Antalya, Turkey, three years back.
Talukdar made short work of Frenchman Jean-Charles Valladont in the semifinal, prevailing 112-101. The Frenchman had defeated the only other Indian in the quarter-finals, Viswash, following a tiebreaker. Viswash shot an eight against the Frenchman's 9 after both were lock on 104.
In the quarterfinal, Talukdar beat Baljinima Tsyrempilov of Russia 112-110. The Russian had accounted for Rahul Banerjee in the previous round 113-110.
Mangal Singh Champia was eliminated in the round of 32 by teammate Viswash following a double-round tiebreaker after both drew 110.
Talukdar was in trouble in the first end of the round of 32 trailing by one point against Chinese Hai-Feng Xue (59-58). But Xue could not keep pace and he took over the lead to win 112-111. In the pre-quarter finals, he appeared more confident and beat another Chinese Xing Yu 113-111 following a great first end of 59.
{{/usCountry}}Talukdar was in trouble in the first end of the round of 32 trailing by one point against Chinese Hai-Feng Xue (59-58). But Xue could not keep pace and he took over the lead to win 112-111. In the pre-quarter finals, he appeared more confident and beat another Chinese Xing Yu 113-111 following a great first end of 59.
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