Jyothi Surekha shoots hat-trick of gold as compound archers bag five medals in World Cup
Shanghai, Apr 27: Asian Games champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam spearheaded India's dominance with a rare hat-trick of gold as compound archers lapped up five medals at the ongoing Archery World Cup Stage 1 here on Saturday.
The world No. 3 Jyothi fought past tournament top seed Andrea Becerra of Mexico in a tight shoot-off finish 146-146 (9*-9) to become the second Indian after Deepika Kumari to secure triple gold medals in a World Cup.
Three-time Olympian and former world No. 1 Deepika had achieved the incredible feat at Paris World Cup Stage 3 in June 2021.
For Jyothi, it also matched her feat at the last year's Hangzhou Asian Games where the 27-year-old Vijayawada archer returned with three gold medals, winning individual, women's team and mixed team events.
Youngster Priyansh capped India's spectacular outing in the compound section, by bagging his maiden World Cup medal in the form of a silver in the men's individual section.
In his second Cup appearance, the 21-year-old found himself up against a formidable opponent in 2021 world champion Nico Wiener, who delivered a flawless performance, scoring a perfect 150 out of a maximum 150.
The 27-year-old Austrian shot all 10s from 15 arrows to edge out the spirited Indian by three points.
In the morning session, India underlined their supremacy in the non-Olympic compound category to make a clean sweep of team events, winning men's team, women's team and mixed team events with Jyothi featuring in two of them.
Jyothi, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur dropped just four points to trounce Italy 236-225 in the women's compound team event to open their account with a gold medal.
The men's team of Abhishek Verma, Priyansh and Prathamesh Fuge then went one step better as they missed just two points en route to defeating Netherlands' Mike Schloesser, Sil Pater and Stef Willems 238-231.
The mixed team completed the sweep when the second-seeded Jyothi and Verma warded off a late resurgence from their Estonian rivals -- Lisell Jaatma and Robin Jaatma -- to win 158-157 in a thrilling finish.
The top seeded women's compound team dropped just four points from 24 arrows to down sixth seeded Italy in the first match of the day.
In the first three ends of six arrows each, Jyothi, Aditi and Parneet missed the perfect 10 only twice to take a handsome 178-171 lead over Marcella Tonioli, Irene Franchini and Elisa Roner.
In the fourth end, the Indians dropped two points but it did not matter much as they nailed the gold with an 11-point margin.
The men's team, who qualified as the fourth seed, put up a near flawless show to defeat their Dutch opponents.
They began with a perfect round of 60 and dropped just two points in the next two ends, before sealing the win with another perfect 60 in the final set of six arrows.
In the compound mixed team event, Jyothi and Abhishek took a three-point lead, starting off with a perfect round of 40.
The three-point drop in the first end proved decisive for Estonian archers who went on to shoot three perfect rounds of 40 each but the Indians held their nerves to seal the issue.
Leading 119-117, the Indian duo needed a minimum score of 39 points out of a maximum 40 in the final end. They did just that to bag the country's third gold.
Jyothi then returned in the afternoon session to become the individual champion as well.
The Indian struggled to get a perfect round in the first three ends as Andrea raced to an 88-87 lead.
Jyothi finally managed a perfect round in the fourth end when she drilled in three 10s with two X (closer to the centre), while Andrea also matched the Indian to retain her one-point lead.
In the fifth round, Andrea faltered under pressure to drop two points, while Jyothi scored a 29 to level it 146-all to force a shoot-off.
Both shot nine-all in the shoot-off but Jyothi's arrow was closer to the inner-ring to seal her third gold.
Medal rounds in the recurve section will be played on Sunday and India are eyeing two gold from the Olympic discipline.
The Indian men's team will take on Olympic champions South Korea in the gold medal clash.
Deepika is in fray for an individual medal and will play her semifinal against South Korean rival in the women's recurve section.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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