India's leading recurve archer Deepika Kumari won her sixth World Cup final medal by winning silver in the Archery World Cup 2024 final in Tlaxcala, Mexico on Sunday. 

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In the Archery World Cup 2024 final match, Deepika had to face defeat by 0-6 against Li Jiaman of China. Deepika, the 2010 Commonwealth Games champion, had performed brilliantly in the quarter and semi-finals. She defeated Li's Chinese teammate Yang Xiaolei 6-0 and then defeated bronze medalist Alejandra Valencia 6-4 in her own home ground. But in the gold medal match, she lost to Jiaman, who had won the silver medal in the team event at the Paris Olympics 2024.

This was Deepika's ninth World Cup final

Recorded a spectacular victory in the semi-finals, Deepika was participating in the Archery World Cup final for the ninth time. The Indian archer also finished runners-up on five occasions - 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2024. She won the bronze medal in 2018.

Till now Dola Banerjee is the only Indian who won an archery gold medal in the World Cup final. She achieved this feat in 2007 in Dubai.

Deepika could not maintain the momentum

Deepika was seeded third among eight archers. After a spectacular win in the semi-finals against  Valencia, Deepika could not maintain the momentum. She lost the first set by one point (26-27). Despite improvement in the second set, Chinese archer Li took a 2-0 lead (30-28) with 30 points including an X-ring shot.

The decision was taken in the third set. Deepika's second arrow landed in the red 7-ring, allowing Li to claim victory with three solid 9 points. She won the set 27-25 and secured the gold medal in his first World Cup final.

Deepika recently became a mother

Four-time Olympic medalist Deepika returned to the World Cup after the birth of her daughter in December 2022. Three years later, she made a comeback in the World Cup final.

Deepika performed poorly in Paris Games

At the Paris Olympics, Deepika Kumari participated in two events - the women's individual and women's team with Bhajan Kaur and Ankita Bhakat. Her run ended in the quarter-finals in both events.

Deepika Kumari had qualified for the Archery World Cup Final based on her 2024 World Cup series rankings. She had also won an individual silver at the Shanghai World Cup.

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Dhiraj lost in the first round

In the men's recurve category, Dhiraj Bommadevara lost to Paris Olympics bronze medalist Lee Woo-seok of South Korea in the first round despite being ahead by 4.2 seconds. The five-member Indian team had three compound and two recurve archers. Only one medal has come in India's bag. 

The Archery World Cup features the world's top eight archers, who qualify either by winning one of the three World Cup stages or based on their world ranking. 

Indian men's and women's compound teams won gold medals in their respective categories at the ongoing Archery World Cup Stage 4 in Paris, France on Saturday. This is the first time the women's and men's compound teams secured the gold medals in the same edition of an Archery World Cup since 2006.

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The compound women's team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Gopichand Swami, and Parneet Kaur won the yellow medal by defeating Mexico 234-233 in the final. It is India's first gold at the Archery World Cup Stage 4.

On the other hand, The compound men's team of Praveen Ojas Deotale, Prathamesh Jawkar and Abhishek Verma defeated USA 236-232. They followed it up with another top-of-the-podium finish to fetch the second gold for India at the Archery World Cup Stage 4.

#Archery #ArcheryWorldCup

The Indian men's and women's compound team won gold to complete a double at the World Cup Stage 4 event in Paris https://t.co/oBxHNUyn0n

— The Field (@thefield_in) August 19, 2023

With two gold on Saturday, India has taken its Archery World Cup Stage 4 medal tally to four. Incidentally, this is the first time the Indian women's and men's compound teams secured the gold medals in the same edition of an Archery World Cup since 2006, when the first edition took place.

Meanwhile, in the recurve category, Indian men's and women's teams won bronze medals in their respective categories. After that, they opened India’s account at the Archery World Cup Stage 4. The recurve men's team of Atanu Das, Dhiraj Bommadevara, and Tushar Shelke won the bronze medal. They defeated the Spanish trio 6-2 on Thursday. Earlier, Spain had beaten fourth seed USA to enter the last four. But the Indian team ultimately proved to be a step ahead in the Paris conditions.

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While the women’s team of Bhajan Kaur, Ankita Bhakat, and Simranjeet Kaur got the better of Mexico in the shoot-off. The scores were tied 4-4 at the end of the fourth set. Both teams missed out on a chance to secure Paris 2024 Olympic berths.