Deepika Kumari reclaims No.1 spot in world archery rankings after Paris success
Deepika Kumari first reached the No. 1 rank back in 2012. She is yet to win an Olympic medal.
India’s Deepika Kumari climbed to the top of the women’s recurve archery world rankings after winning three gold medals at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Paris.
Deepika Kumari, with 263.7 points, climbed two places and reclaimed the summit spot for the first time since 2012. France’s Lisa Barbelin (225.5 points) and Korea’s Kang Chae Young (208 points) are ranked second and third, respectively.
The Tokyo-bound Indian archer achieved the world No. 1 ranking shortly after the Paris World Cup which concluded on Monday.
Deepika Kumari won top honours in the women’s individual event and helped the women’s recurve and mixed teams clinch golds in France.
Heading into the upcoming Tokyo Olympics as the top-ranked women’s recurve archer will undoubtedly be a big boost for Deepika Kumari.
The two-time Olympian returned empty-handed from London 2012 and Rio 2016 but aims to open her Olympic medal account at Tokyo 2020.
“Our country, in archery… it doesn’t have any Olympic medals. It’s very important to win Olympic medals, so it’s very important to me,” Deepika Kumari told World Archery.
Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari, Deepika Kumari’s Indian women’s recurve team colleagues, were ranked 34th and 94th, respectively.
In the men’s recurve archery rankings, Deepika Kumari’s husband Atanu Das is the best-ranked Indian at ninth place.
Atanu Das’ teammates in the men’s division, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai occupy the 41st and 58th spots, respectively.
Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav will be India’s archery contingent at Tokyo.
India’s compound archer Abhishek Verma, who clinched an individual men’s gold medal at the Paris World Cup, moved up 14 places to the eighth position in the men’s compound rankings.
Jyothi Vennam, at 17th, is the highest-ranked Indian in the women's compound category.