Archery: Indian women’s recurve team clinches gold at World Cup Stage 3

The Indian women’s recurve team of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari notched up the gold medal with a comfortable win over Mexico in the World Cup Stage 3 in Paris on Sunday, shrugging off the disappointment of missing Olympic qualification last week.

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In a repeat of the World Cup first stage final, the troika of world number three Deepika, Ankita and Komalika, who failed to qualify for Tokyo following a shock loss to minnows Colombia, defeated fancied Mexico 5-1 without dropping a set.

This was their second successive gold medal in the World Cup this year, and sixth overall (Shanghai-2011, Medellin-2013, Wroclaw-2013, Wroclaw-2014, Guatemala City-2o21). Deepika was a constant each time.

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The trio, which had stuttered to win the gold against the same opponents in Guatemala City two months back, was at its best, shooting four 10s with one X (closest to the centre) for a 57-57 score in the first set.

The Indians’ flawless shooting put pressure back on the Mexican team of London 2012 silver-medallist Aida Roman, Alejandra Valencia and Ana Vazquez. They shot a poor 52 to lose the second set by three points.

Leading 3-1, the Indians had another round of consistent shooting with a 55 but the Mexicans failed to equalise and lost the third set by a slender one point to suffer a second successive defeat this year.

Earlier on Saturday, India won a gold medal through Abhishek Verma in the compound individual event.