According to information received here, the unheralded Indian duo had a slender 112-111 lead against the Italian world champions Sergio Pagni and Marcella Toniolli at the end of third set.
But the inexperienced Indians faltered by a couple of millimetres in the final arrow to go down 149-150 in a thrilling contest.
India have never won a gold medal in the compound section and their previous best in this format was in the Ogden World Cup 2011 (Stage III) when the women`s team of Manjudha, Gagandeep Kaur and Jhano Hansdah had won a silver.
This is a second World Cup silver for Railways girl Manjudha, who hails from Jharkhand, while it`s a first-ever silver in the mixed team event in the compound section.
Having just won a team bronze this morning, Pagni quickly adapted to the windy condition along with his partner as the Italian opened up a three-point lead (39-36) in the first end.
However Tonioli was caught by the wind in the second end with a 6 but Italy still held their lead (74-73) at the midway stage.
India`s score of 39 in the third end put them in the driving seat as they snatched the lead (112-111).
But the match resulted in a tie before the final two arrows and Italy shot two perfect 10s to put pressure on India.
The duo crumbled under pressure with a 10-9, the last arrow being just a couple of millimetres out to miss out on what could have been a historic gold for India.
Earlier, the fancied Indian recurve archers had crashed out before the quarters as India concluded their campaign with the silver lining from the compound archers.
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