It was a historic day for Indian archery as recurve archers bagged three Gold medals at the 2021 Archery World Cup held in Paris, France. Deepika Kumari was one of India’s medal hopes and played an active role in winning all three of the Gold medals.
It all started with the Women’s recurve team finals where India went up against Mexico. This team of three was led by Deepika Kumari followed by Komolika Bari and Ankita Bhakat. The Indians made their progress to the finals by defeating Spain, France and Turkey after getting a bye in the first round of the event. This was India’s second consecutive Gold medals and the first one being at the first stage of the Archery World Cup in Guatemala City back in April. The Indian ladies missed the World Cup stage 2 due to COVID-19.
Deepika continued her onslaught when she paired up with her husband Atanu Das to feature in the finals of the Mixed Recurve team. The duo defeated Dutch pair Gabriela Schloesser and Sjef Van Den Berg 5-3 in the final.
A day earlier it was a shocking start for the Indian archery fans as the compound archer struck Gold against the heavyweight Kris Schauff. Verma opened the medal tally for India with his exquisite performances setting a platform for the others to follow.
Lastly, the Tokyo bound archers from the recurve team are ready to feature in the Tokyo Olympics. Archers like Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav, will next compete at the Tokyo Olympics in July. While hopes are there that Indian archers will bring their first medal in the sport. However, the main attraction has to be Deepika Kumari who has been in sensational form ahead of the Summer Games.
The last Gold medal that she clinched was in the Women’s Individual Recurve event. She first defeated Mexico’s Ana Velaquez to progress to the finals. There she faced Russia’s Elena Osipova in the finals Gold Medal match. Deepika completely dominated her opponents and winning 6-0 by straight sets. This was the eighth Gold medal for the 27-year-old who is probably India’s only hope for a medal in Archery.
