Archery World Cup 2022 | Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, and Simranjeet Kaur win recurve team silver
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At Stage 3 of the Archery World Cup 2022 in Paris, France, Indian archer Deepika Kumari teamed up with Ankita Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur to take home the silver medal in the women's recurve team event. The Indian team was unable to match the steadiness of their opponents and lost the match 5-1.
After dismissing Great Britain 6-0 in the last eight, the 13th-seeded Indian trio downed eighth-seeded Turkey 5-3 earlier in the semi-finals. In the preliminary round, the Indian team defeated Ukraine 5-1. But in the individual competitions in Paris, Indian recurve archers came up empty-handed.
Deepika Kumari, a Tokyo Olympian and former No. 1 recurve archer in the world, competed in her first outdoor international competition since placing fourth at the World Cup Final in September. After a lackluster performance at the Tokyo Olympics, third-placed Deepika Kumari lost the national trials. She was thus unable to compete in this year's World Cups.
At the Stage 3 Archery World Cup in Paris, this was India's third medal. Abhishek Verma, who previously won a gold medal at the Asian Games, teamed up with Jyothi Surekha Vennam to win the mixed compound event earlier on Saturday. The Chinese Taipei team, which included Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Lei Chien-Ying, Peng Chia-Mao, and Kuo Tzu Ying, defeated the Indian trio 5-1 in the championship match.
After the first three arrows, the scores in the match between India and Chinese Taipei were level at 27 apiece. India lost the initiative and trailed 2-0 after the first set after hitting a 7 on its fourth stroke. The third-ranked compound archer in the world, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, also took home silver in the women's solo compound archery competition.
With four gold, three silver, and three bronze medals, India is now ranked second overall in the 2022 Archery World Cup. With six gold medals, South Korea leads the pack, followed by Great Britain with four gold, two silver, and one bronze. From July 18 to July 24, Medellin, Colombia, will host the fourth round of the Archery World Cup. On October 15 and 16, the Archery World Cup Final will be held in Tlaxcala, Mexico.
