<p>Star compound archer Abhishek Verma stunned American heavyweight Kris Schaff in a shoot-off to bag a gold medal at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 here on Saturday.</p>.<p>In a neck-and-neck final clash, the duo dropped just two points each to be locked 148-all after the regulation five ends.</p>.<p>The world number five Schaff started the shoot-off with a nine and Verma, showing nerve of steel, clinched the contest in style with a perfect 10 to open India's account.</p>.<p>It was Verma's second individual World Cup gold medal. The 32-year-old Indian last won an individual medal in 2015 at World Cup Stage 3 in Wroclaw.</p>.<p>"That's archery, it's all about hits and misses. My heartbeat went up so I just calmed myself down and kept my focus on the next arrow," Verma said about the intense finish.</p>.<p>Earlier Verma defeated Anton Bulaev of Russia 146-138 to make his first World Cup final since Salt Lake City 2018 where he had finished with a silver.</p>.<p>Starting off with 29, the Indian trailed by one point with Bulaev shooting three perfect 10s.</p>.<p>But Verma bounced back strongly with another 29 in the third, before stepping up in the penultimate end with three perfect 10s.</p>.<p>Heading into the final end with a three point lead, Verma finished it off in style with three 10s including one closest to the centre (X).</p>.<p>India are eyeing three more medals in the recurve team, individual and mixed pair event, slated for Sunday with world number three Deepika Kumari aiming for a hat-trick of gold medals.</p>
<p>Star compound archer Abhishek Verma stunned American heavyweight Kris Schaff in a shoot-off to bag a gold medal at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 here on Saturday.</p>.<p>In a neck-and-neck final clash, the duo dropped just two points each to be locked 148-all after the regulation five ends.</p>.<p>The world number five Schaff started the shoot-off with a nine and Verma, showing nerve of steel, clinched the contest in style with a perfect 10 to open India's account.</p>.<p>It was Verma's second individual World Cup gold medal. The 32-year-old Indian last won an individual medal in 2015 at World Cup Stage 3 in Wroclaw.</p>.<p>"That's archery, it's all about hits and misses. My heartbeat went up so I just calmed myself down and kept my focus on the next arrow," Verma said about the intense finish.</p>.<p>Earlier Verma defeated Anton Bulaev of Russia 146-138 to make his first World Cup final since Salt Lake City 2018 where he had finished with a silver.</p>.<p>Starting off with 29, the Indian trailed by one point with Bulaev shooting three perfect 10s.</p>.<p>But Verma bounced back strongly with another 29 in the third, before stepping up in the penultimate end with three perfect 10s.</p>.<p>Heading into the final end with a three point lead, Verma finished it off in style with three 10s including one closest to the centre (X).</p>.<p>India are eyeing three more medals in the recurve team, individual and mixed pair event, slated for Sunday with world number three Deepika Kumari aiming for a hat-trick of gold medals.</p>