New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) India won its first-ever archery medal in the Commonwealth Games Thursday as the trio of Gagandeep Kaur, Jhano Hansdah and Bheigyabati Chanu bagged an unexpected bronze in the women's compound team event.

The hosts defeated Malaysia 223-219 in the bronze play-off at the Yamuna Sports complex here. Archery has made a return to the Games after 28 years.

"It's the first medal for India in Games archery. I am excited to be part of this. We tried our best in the semi-finals but it did not happen," said Gagandeep Kaur.

Earlier, eventual silver medallists Canada beat India in the semi-finals by a seven-point difference with the final scoreline reading 224-217. England won the gold medal.

The Indian archers managed a medal despite getting the bows and arrows only a month before the competition.

"We got the equipment late but it did not affect our performance in the end," Jhano told IANS.

Archery Association of India secretary general Paresh Nath Mukherjee said the medal in the compound category was a bonus as India's hopes to garner a large number of medals from the dicipline rested primarily on the recurve archers.