Teen Sensations Kirti Sharma, Prithika Pradeep Storm Into Archery World Cup Semifinals

Teenage archers Kirti Sharma and Prithika Pradeep produced a sparkling display of skill and composure to keep India's medal hopes alive by reaching the semifinals of their respective events at the Archery World Cup Stage 4 in Madrid on Friday.

Competing in her maiden World Cup season, the 19-year-old Kirti delivered the biggest result of her career by stunning world No. 11 Elia Canales of Spain 6-2 in the women's recurve quarterfinals. Seeded fourth after qualification, Kirti recovered from losing the opening set to dominate the remainder of the contest and set up a semifinal clash against Turkey's Elif Gokkir .

Kirti's campaign has been remarkable from the outset. She defeated Germany's double Olympic medallist Michelle Kroppen in the round of 32 and then edged Chinese Taipei's Li Tsai-Chi in a tense pre-quarterfinal before overcoming Canales with a composed performance under pressure.

The 19-year-old Prithika was equally impressive in the women's compound event. After surviving a one-point thriller against South Korea's Park Jungyoon and defeating American Liko Arreola 147-146, she beat Spain's Andrea Munoz 140-135 to move within one victory of a maiden individual World Cup medal. Prithika will next face Malaysia's Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh .

Prithika is also in contention for a second medal after teaming up with Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Chikitha Taniparthi to secure a place in the women's compound team final. Meanwhile, the recurve mixed team of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Kirti will fight for bronze on Sunday.

The day, however, ended in disappointment for the senior stars. Jyothi bowed out in the pre-quarterfinals, while Dhiraj suffered a heartbreaking 5-6 shoot-off defeat to Germany's Leon Zemella in the men's recurve quarterfinals despite producing a string of near-perfect shots.