Indian archery’s star couple Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das led the show with two individual gold medals as the country capped its best ever performance in a World Cup, claiming three golds and a bronze in the tournament’s first stage.
Former world number one Deepika claimed her career’s third individual World Cup gold to add to the team’s triumph, while her husband Das grabbed his first ever World Cup individual medal in style winning the men’s recurve individual final.
The two are now automatically qualified for this season’s most-coveted Archery World Cup Final.
“We travel together, train together, compete together and win together,” Das, who got married to Deepika in June last year after a two-year courtship, said after claiming the gold medal on Sunday.
“She knows what I like, and I know what she likes.”
This was the best ever World Cup finish by India’s recurve archers with two individual and one team gold medals in their return to the top International calendar year event after almost two years.
Also, this was India’s best ever individual recurve men’s result since JayantaTalukdar triumphed in Croatia way back in 2009. India started with the women’s trio of Deepika, AnkitaBhakat and Komalika Bari winning the first team gold after seven years. They scripted a stunning turnaround to down fancied Mexico 5-4 (27-26) in an intriguing shoot-off.
The performance rubbed off on the mixed pair of Das and Bhakat as they bagged a bronze, upsetting top seeds USA 6-2 with yet another fightback at the Sports Complex Los Arcos here. But the icing on the cake came in the individual events later in the day Deepika and Das bagged two individual golds in their respective events. Former world number one Deepika, who was seeded third, stayed calm in an intense shoot-off to edge out USA’s eighth seed Mackenzie Brown 6-5 (9-9) by hitting closer to the centre. In the semi-final she had defeated her Mexican rival Alejandra Valencia 7-3.