Shanghai, April 28

The Indian men’s recurve team comprising Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav shocked reigning Olympics champions South Korea in a historic win to land an Archery World Cup gold medal after 14 years.

This triumph over the archery powerhouse in well over a decade also comes as a boost to their chances of securing a berth in the upcoming Paris Olympics.

The 40-year-old Army man Tarundeep was also a part of the gold medal winning team in the Shanghai World Cup Stage 4 in 2010, when India defeated Japan. In a battle between the top two seeds of the competition, India won 5-1 (57-57, 57-55, 55-53).

The recurve mixed team of Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj trounced Alejandra Valencia and Matias Grande of Mexico 6-0 (35-31, 38-35, 39-37) to win bronze.

On a comeback trail after missing the whole 2023, Deepika Kumari faltered in the final hurdle to settle for the silver medal in the women’s recurve individual section. The former world No. 1, who started from the bottom after qualifying as the 30th seed, eliminated Koreans in the quarterfinals and semifinals. But in the final, Deepika lost to Hangzhou Asian Games champion Lim Sihyeon in straight sets 6-0 (26-27, 27-29, 27-28).

Keeping calm

In the men’s team final, India were up against their nemesis South Korea, who featured two members of the Tokyo Olympics gold medal winning team in Kim Woojin and Kim Je Deok. Lee Woo Seok was the third member.

But the Indian troika drilled in three 10s that included two Xs (closer to the centre) and three 9s to match their rivals in the opening set.

The Koreans slipped twice into the 8-ring, while the Indians shot four perfect 10s, including three Xs, to take the second set. In the next set, the Koreans managed just 53 as the Indians held their nerves to close out the game.

“The nerves always kick in when Korea is in the final. But now, no one can doubt our ability to defeat them,” said former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Rahul Banerjee, a member of the Shanghai 2010 team. “They have been showing perfect rhythm right from the qualifying round and it’s definitely one of the biggest wins in archery. They will now have to hold on to this momentum till Paris,” he added.

So far, India have a solitary Olympics berth earned by Dhiraj in the men’s individual section. The final Olympics qualifying event is the Stage 3 World Cup in June. The two highest-ranked nations who do not make the cut from the qualifiers will receive team berths for Paris from the World Archery rankings. India (231 points) are now third in the world rankings behind South Korea (340) and China (241).