India men topple Korea in archery, win World Cup gold

India won the men’s recurve team gold at the Archery World Cup Stage 1 beating reigning Olympic champions South Korea 5-1 (57-57, 57-55, 55-53) in the final, a result that was not only stunning but also strengthens the qualification chances of the men’s team for the Paris Olympics.

The trio of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav did the near unthinkable against an archery nation that gobbles up World Cup medals for fun. And it was no ordinary Korean team — Kim Je-deok and Kim Woo-jin were part of their Tokyo Games winning team while Lee Woo-seok was among the troika that pocketed last year’s Asian Games gold.

It is India’s first World Cup men’s team gold for 14 years. The last win, also in Shanghai, was achieved in 2010 by Rahul Banerjee, Jayanta Talukdar and Tarundeep Rai.

“This result gives us a big boost in the Olympic year,” Dhiraj, the only Indian to earn a Paris Games quota in archery so far, said from Shanghai. “This medal feels good, especially with the amount of work we’ve been doing in the past couple of years, keeping just this Olympics in mind.”

Given that the Indian men’s team had missed out on several quota opportunities last year, there was plenty riding on this World Cup. They went past Indonesia 5-3 in the second round, Spain 5-1 in the quarter-finals and Italy 5-1 in the semis. Korea, who had blanked Taipei 6-0, are a bridge too far too often for most teams.

Not on Sunday for the Indians who, as if the Korean obstacle wasn’t stiff enough, had to do without the support of a coach (the Indian contingent was penalised at this event for a rule pertaining to the maximum number of officials in the field of play, according to World Archery).

“We came in with no real expectations as such. Our mindset was to focus on ourselves and give our absolute best,” Dhiraj said.

The Indians fired three 10s, including two Xs (inner 10s), in the first set that was split 1-1 after both teams scored 57 from their six shots. Challenged, the Koreans crumbled. The second set saw a couple of 8s from them while the Indians delivered four 10s (three Xs) to bag it 57-55 and surge ahead. They took the momentum into the third set (55-53) where the Koreans couldn’t find a 10 while the Indians remained solid, completing the mighty task for a memorable triumph.

The absence of the coach meant the Indian trio used the time between shots to talk a lot amongst themselves, which kept them composed in those damp conditions.

“We kept conversing a lot — a lot more than the Koreans — about the conditions and the need to shift our aim accordingly. That helped big time. This team shares a special bond, but today it was even greater,” Dhiraj said. “This medal reminds us that we are on the right track. And this is just the start.”

Dhiraj’s individual silver from the Asian Continental Qualifier Tournament last November remains the only Paris quota won by Indian archers. The men’s team though now has a great chance of making the cut.

With the qualification system tweaked for Paris — earlier, two-thirds of the quotas were filled at the World Championships — there are two more spots on offer through world rankings and three more at the final qualification tournament (World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya, Turkey in June). Currently, the Indian men’s team is ranked third, behind Korea (already qualified) and China. This World Cup gold should further earn India valuable points and solidify their ranking. Thus, while securing the quota at the final World Cup event in June would be the primary goal, the ranking route too is a strong back-up for the men’s team.

“Our chances are really high now. We will get a lot of points from this World Cup, which will lift our rankings and hopefully push us to second. The next two World Cups will be equally important. We should be safe. But irrespective of that, our mindset is to keep going at this pace,” said Dhiraj, who also won a mixed team bronze with Ankita Bhakat.

Deepika marks WC return with silver

If the men’s team had a gold to savour, Deepika Kumari had a return to cherish. Back at the World Cup stage after two years, the ace archer brought home the women’s recurve silver.

Missing from the international circuit last year after becoming a mother in late 2022,

Deepika took down Koreans Jeon Hunyoung and Nam Suhyeon in the quarter-finals and semi-finals before Lim Si-hyeon became a Korean too many. She defeated Deepika 6-0 in the final.