Renowned Indian archer Deepika Kumari, a multiple-time World Cup medallist, clinched a silver medal in the women’s recurve event at the Archery World Cup Final in Mexico on Sunday.
It was India’s only exploit from the event.
Deepika won her fifth silver medal in the World Cup final after she went down 0-6 to China’s Li Jiaman in the finale. To date, the first and only Indian archer to win a medal – gold – at the World Cup Final is Dola Banerjee.
Playing on her first World Cup Final after a pregnancy-induced break of three years, Deepika, a four-time Olympian, was seeded third in an eight-archer field.
The 30-year-old from Jharkhand had a smooth outing in the semifinals as she defeated Mexico’s Alejandra Valencia 6-4. In the quarterfinal, she beat China’s Yang Xiaolei 6-0.
However, in the summit clash, the pressure seemed to have got into Deepika as the fouth-seed Li Jiaman, a Paris Olympics silver medallist in the team event, emerged champion without conceding a point to her Indian counterpart.
In the first set, Deepika lost by a solitary point (26-27). Even though she put up an improved show in the second set, a prolific Li Jiaman managed to stay ahead by scoring a 30-28 win, which included an X-ring shot.
The third set proved decisive as a nervous Deepika shot her arrow in the red 7-ring, allowing Li to claim victory with three solid 9s, taking the set 27-25 and sealing the gold on her debut World Cup Final appearance.
It was Deepika’s ninth appearance in the World Cup Final where she also bagged a bronze.
Dhiraj makes first-round exit
However, in the men’s recurve segment, Dhiraj Bommadevara failed to shine as he made an early exit by losing to South Korea’s Paris Olympics bronze medallist, Lee Woo Seok in the opening round.
Despite leading 4-2 initially, Dhiraj could not soak the pressure against Lee as he struggled to maintain the tempo.
India had a rather forgetful campaign in the World Cup Final with the five-member contingent, featuring three compound and two recurve archers concluding their campaign with just one medal.
Earlier, in the compound archery section, the three-member Indian contingent drew blank as Prathamesh Fuge finished fourth after a tense semifinal loss, as Priyansh and Jyothi Surekha Vennam failed to reach the medal rounds.
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