Paris Archery World Cup: Deepika Kumari leads women’s recurve team to final
Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari beat Spain, Turkey and France to enter the final. The men’s recurve team exited in the quarter-finals.
The Indian women’s recurve team of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari made it through to the final of the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Paris.
The second-seeded Indian team got a bye in the first round. They comfortably beat Spain 6-0 in the second round and won by a similar scoreline against Turkey in the quarter-finals.
The Indian archery team’s first proper challenge of the day came against sixth-seeds France in the semi-finals. India began well, winning the first two sets to take a 4-0 lead, with neither of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat or Komalika Bari shooting below 9.
The French team took the third set, as the Indians shot a 7 and 8 with two of their six arrows. However, Deepika Kumari and Co. recovered swiftly in the fourth set to win the tie 6-2 and sailed into the women’s recurve team final.
Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari will take on top seeds Mexico for the gold medal on Sunday.
Former world No. 1 Deepika Kumari - the only female Indian archer to qualify for Tokyo 2020 - has also made it to the semis of the individual recurve event, which will take place on Sunday.
Deepika Kumari will also be in contention for the recurve mixed team gold on Sunday along with husband Atanu Das.
Meanwhile, the men’s recurve team of Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai - all Tokyo-bound archers - bowed out in the quarter-finals after a 5-4 loss to Germany.
Eighth seeds India had received a bye in the first round and beat Mexico 6-0 in the second.
Up against top seeds Germany in the last eight, India won two sets and lost two to tie the match 4-4. In the fifth set shootoff, the Indian team lost 27-26 as the Germans shot three 9s but India could only manage two 9s and an 8.
Compound teams fall short
The men’s compound team of Abhishek Verma, Aman Saini and Rajat Chauhan exited in the quarter-finals after a loss to France.
The sixth-seeded Indian team had beaten Sweden 233-229 in the first round.
In the last eight, India and France were tied at 233 each after four sets, which took the match to a shootoff. However, India could only hit 25 (two bullseye and 5) while France shot 29 (two 10s and 9).
Asian Games champion Abhishek Verma, though, can still win a medal as he will compete in the individual compound semis on Sunday.
The women’s compound team, meanwhile, went down 228-225 to France in the opening round.