Jharkhand archers (from left) Jayant Talukdar, Keziengunuo Theuno, Naohmi Laloo and Bansara Lin Dhar displaying the medals they won on the final day of the junior national meet. Picture by Uma Shankar Dubey

Jamshedpur, Jan. 5: Jharkhand girls retained the team title even as the state boys team dethroned Uttar Pradesh to clinch top honours in the 25th Junior National Archery Championship which concluded at the J.R.D. Tata Sports Complex here today.

Jharkhand created two national records in the team and individual categories.

Jharkhand boys and girls also lapped up individual honours much to the delight of their supporters. The host team’s archers shot with elan and confidence and made short work of close rivals Uttar Pradesh who posed the Jharkhand’s main challenge.

Jharkhand boys’ team comprising Talukdar, Bulbul Marandi, Subhash Hansda and Ram Awdhesh won the gold scoring 235 points. They broke the national record set by the erstwhile Bihar (234 points) in the Meerut Nationals in 2000. The host team’s girls held complete sway in the individual Olympic round with Keziengunuo Theuno creating a national record by shattering Dola Bannerji’s mark of 102 points.

The prodigious archer of the Tata Archery Academy (TAA) claimed the gold scoring 107 points. Bannerji, currently India’s number one, had scored 102 points in the 1995 Meerut junior nationals.

Naohmi Laloo (99 points) and Bansara Lin Dhar (101 points) completed the medals sweep by bagging silver and bronze respectively. Both Laloo and Dhar are TAA cadets.

“I am in good form and was confident of winning the gold,” Keziengunuo said.

Later, Jayanta Talukdar captured the individual title by a whisker as he shot the bull’s eye when it mattered the most.

Talukdar of TAA beat Kapil of Uttar Pradesh by just one point to clinch gold amid vociferous support from his colleagues.

While Talukdar scored 106 points, Kapil, who claimed bronze, scored 105 points. Mukesh M Khillare of Maharashtra assured himself a silver with 99 points in his kitty.

Jharkhand boys and girls called the shots in the team Olympic round too, bagging the gold with relative ease. Uttar Pradesh had to be satisfied with the silver in both categories. Army Sports Control Board (ASCB) took bronze in the boy’s category with 222 points.