Harpal Singh Bedi
New Delhi, 28 April: Indian men’s recurve team of Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav and Dhiraj Bommadevara won the historic gold at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai, China on Sunday while Deepika Kumari bagged a silver in the women’s individual recurve event.
India also clinched the mixed team recurve bronze as Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj finished the meet with eight medals – five gold, two silvers and one bronze.
The country’s compound archers accounted for five medals, including four golds, on Saturday.
In the men’s team recurve finals, India faced a daunting task against the top-seeded team from Korea, featuring Kim Woojin and Kim Je Deok – two members of the Tokyo Olympics gold medal-winning team. Lee Woo Seok was the third archer.
The Indian trio, however, remained calm under pressure to pick up a stunning 5-1 win against the Koreans to secure the top podium.
This was India’s first World Cup gold medal in men’s recurve team archery in 14 years.
The historic win will significantly boost India’s chances of securing a berth in the Paris Olympics through the rankings route.
Till now, Dhiraj Bommadevara has obtained India’s only archery quota for Paris .
Soon after, Dhiraj went on to partner with Ankita Bhakat to win the bronze medal in the mixed team event after blanking Mexico 6-0.
On Wednesday, Dhiraj Bommadevara shot a new national record score of 693 in the men’s recurve qualifiers and obtained third seeding.
Indian archers, however, drew a blank in the men’s individual recurve event.
Pravin was ousted in the opening round itself while Dhiraj exited in the third round. Olympian Tarundeep Rai’s medal charge ended in the quarter-finals.
However, Deepika Kumari struck silver in the women’s individual recurve event.
The three-time Olympian accounted for South Korea’s Nam Suhyeon 6-0 in the semis but lost to another Korean Lim Sihyeon by a similar scoreline in the gold medal match.
This was Deepika’s second successive medal since returning to the international arena after her maternity break.
She participated in her first international competition after a 14-month-long hiatus at the 2024 Asia Cup in Baghdad this February and marked the occasion by winning the individual gold .