Deepika Kumari's best: The Indian archer's career highlights

Deepika Kumari announced herself on the world stage when she won two gold medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Since then, she has consistently been India’s leading female archer.

Since her twin golds at the CWG, the Indian archer has won medals at the Asian Games, the World Cup, the world championships and the Asian championships. These include gold medals at the World Cup and the Asian championships.

Looking back, here are some of Deepika Kumari’s best performances from her career in archery.

2010 Commonwealth Games - women's individual gold medal

Deepika Kumari hogged the limelight at the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) with her stellar performance against five-time Olympian Alison Williamson from England in the women's individual recurve final.

At only the tender age of 16 then, Deepika outclassed Williamson 6-0 in the final to clinch a gold medal. Interestingly, the Indian archer finished with a perfect score of 30 to reign superior against her No. 6 seeded opponent in the final.

2012 Archery World Cup - women's individual gold medal

The year 2012 was an eventful year for Deepika Kumari as she won her first individual gold in the women's recurve event in World Cup, rose to No. 1 spot and made her maiden appearance at the Olympics in London.

Kumari beat South Korea's Lee Sung Jin 6-4 in the final to win the gold medal at the archery World Cup event in Antalya. She had won the second (29-27), third (27-26) and fifth set (28-27) while losing the first (27-30) and the fourth (27-29) in the summit clash.

2018 Archery World Cup - women's individual gold medal

Deepika Kumari ended a six-year drought to win her second individual gold at the World Cup in 2018. She had, however, bagged silver medals at the World Cup in 2013 Shanghai, 2013 Paris and 2015 Mexico City.

Kumari beat Germany's Michelle Kroppen 7-3 in the final at Salt Lake City. The German, who was appearing in her maiden final, averaged 9.08 points per shot while Deepika was slightly better with 9.21 points per arrow.

2021 Archery World Cup - women's individual gold medal

Former World No. 1 Deepika Kumari began the Olympic year on a positive note as she bagged her third individual World Cup gold in Guatemala City.

The third-seeded Indian edged past her American opponent Mackenzie Brown 6-5 (9*-9) in an intense shoot-off to claim the top podium spot. Kumari had taken a lead initially but the eighth seed came from behind to equalise after the third and fourth sets.

It was, however, the final nine shot by Deepika that helped her clinched the gold medal over Brown who had also shot a nine but her arrow landed further out inside the ring.

2021 Archery World Cup - women's team gold medal

Deepika Kumar also led the recurve women's recurve team, also comprising Ankita Bhakat and Komolika Bari, to a gold medal win at the World Cup in Guatemala City.

India were locked at 4-4 in the shoot-off against Mexico. Deepika, however, kept her composure and shot a perfect 10 in the final arrow to put the pressure on London 2012 Olympics silver medallist Aida Roman who needed nine but could only manage seven points. India, thus, cliched the gold by a slender 27-26 margin.

Return from motherhood

Deepika Kumari made her international comeback at the Archery Asia Cup Stage-1 in Baghdad in March 2024, her first outing since becoming a mother in 2022. She hit the ground running on her return, clinching the women’s individual gold by defeating compatriot Simranjeet Kaur.

She then teamed up with Simranjeet and Bhajan Kaur to secure the women’s recurve team title for India.

A month later, Deepika continued her stellar form at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai, where she claimed a silver medal. She outclassed South Korea’s Nam Suhyeon 6-0 in the semi-finals before falling to Lim Sihyeon by the same margin in the final. It marked her second consecutive podium finish since returning to the international stage after her maternity break.