Archery World Cup: Deepika Kumari beats Korean rival to make semis; archers confirm four medals

Continuing her spirited progress post motherhood, former world No. 1 Deepika Kumari eliminated Korean Jeon Hunyoung to storm into the semifinal, while compound archers continued to shine to assure India a fourth medal in the World Cup Stage 1 here on Friday.

Deepika, the three-time Olympian, who has slipped to world No. 142 and qualified as 30th seed in the rankings round, overcame a 1-3 deficit to defeat Jeon 6-4 (27-28, 27-27, 29-28, 29-27, 28-28) in the women’s recurve individual quarterfinal.

Having started off with an eight, Deepika lost the first set 27-28, but the 29-year-old continued to improve and levelled the second at 27-all, before taking the third (29-28) by dropping just one point.

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From three-all, there was no stopping Deepika, who went on to drill in four 10s including two X (closer to centre) from six arrows to make the semis.

Deepika, who embraced motherhood in December 2022 and returned to win the Asia Cup gold in Baghdad in February this year, may have to overcome two more Korean rivals in her bid to win a first World Cup individual gold medal since the Paris Stage 3 in June 2021.

Korean teenager Nam Suhyeon, who qualified as the seventh seed, stands in Deepika’s way in the semifinal.

The other half will feature top seed and 20-year-old world No. 2 Korean Lim Sihyeon taking on Li Jiaman of China.

Recurve mixed team aims for bronze

The fourth-seeded Indian recurve mixed team of Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara lost out to the top-seeded Korean duo of Lim and Kim Woojin in straight sets 0-6 (38-39, 35-36, 36-38) in the semifinal. They will fight for bronze against Mexico.

There was heartbreak for other recurve archers as Tarundeep Rai made a quarterfinal exit, losing to Andres Temino 3-7 (29-26, 27-29, 27-27, 27-30, 27-28).