World Cup of Archery: Mixed team adds happiness, with Deepika Kumari in the quarterfinals

While Deepika Kumari brightened the nation’s dismal recurve campaign by reaching her second consecutive World Cup semifinal after her comeback in Stage 2 of the event here today, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Priyansh confirmed India’s second medal.

By qualifying for the final on Wednesday, Jyothi, Parneet Kaur, and Aditi Swami’s compound women’s team had guaranteed India’s first medal.

Prathamesh Fuge, a young compound archer who progressed to the individual semifinals, is also aiming for a gold.

In a close semifinal, the Indian compound mixed team—ranked second in the world—eliminated the host nation’s Han Seungyeon and Yang Jaewon pair by dropping only two points from 16 arrows, 158-157.

The top-two rated countries in the world, Jyothi, Priyansh and Sawyer Sullivan of the USA, will square off in today’s gold medal match.

In the opening Round-of-16 match, the fourth-seeded Indian team defeated Vietnam 159-152, missing the mark only once in 16 arrows.

India then overcame fierce opposition from Mexico, the fifth-seeded team, to win 156-155 in a thrilling quarterfinal match.

After welcoming birth in December 2022, former world No. 1 Deepika is returning to the international circuit. She won four straight events to go to the final four and is the only Indian recurve archer vying for a medal.

In Sunday’s semifinal, Deepika will take on world No. 2 Lim Sihyeon, the local favorite, four weeks after the rising 20-year-old South Korean took home the gold in Shanghai Stage 1 with a merciless straight-set triumph.

Deepika, who began the qualifying round ranked fourth, overcame her early nerves to defeat Slovenian youngster Tinkara Kardinar in the shoot-off after trailing 1-3 in a thrilling first-round match.

In other individual recurve results, Ankita Bhakat was unable to go beyond the first round, while Bhajan Kaur lost in the first round. In the first round, Mrinal Chauhan and veteran Tarundeep Rai were eliminated, while in the second round, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Pravin Jadhav were unsuccessful.