Ace archer Deepika wins gold at World Cup to end six year’s dry run

Salt Lake City : Ace Indian archer Deepika Kumari finally shrugged off her poor run of form by clinching a gold medal in the women’s recurve event at the World Cup (Stage III) after a gap of six years, beating Germany’s Michelle Kroppen 7-3. The victory gave her a direct entry into the Archery World Cup Final, which will be held in Samsun, Turkey, later this year. It will be her seventh appearance at the prestigious year-ending event, in which she has won four silver medals (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015).
“Finally! That’s what I said when I won this gold medal,” said Deepika, whose last victory at a World Cup stage event came six years ago, in Antalya back in 2012. The Indian archer opened the match with 29 out of a possible 30 points to take a 2-0 lead, before splitting the points with Kroppen in the second set. The German archer, making her debut in the individual finals, won the third set and tied the match at 3-3. Deepika then took the fourth and fifth sets with 29 and 27 points, over Michelle’s pair of 26s to win the match 7-3.
“I was repeating to myself, ‘just do it the best, this is your time; just enjoy your game and forget about winning or losing and have fun’,” Deepika told the official website of World Archery Federation.
“Do I feel relieved to qualify? Yes and no. I’m not expecting anything, at the moment I’m just enjoying my game, I want to enjoy my game,” said Deepika, who has often failed to live up to the expectations at the biggest stages like the Olympics.
In the medal standings, India finished fourth behind USA, Colombia and Chinese Taipei with a gold, silver and bronze each in the penultimate stage of the World Cup.
Deepika, however, returned empty-handed in the recurve mixed pair section alongside Atanu Das, where they lost to the Chinese Taipei pair of Tang Chih-Chun and Tan Ya-Ting 4-5 in the shoot-off. Locked 37-all after set four, Deepika and Atanu Das shot identical 8s, while their opponents sealed the issue with a 9 and 8.