Deepika Kumari rises to 3rd spot in World Archery Rankings

Ace Indian recurve archer Deepika Kumari rose to third place in the latest World Archery Rankings. Deepika is currently ranked third with 237.5 points and trailing Casey Kaufhold of the USA (264.5). Lim Sihyeon of Korea (305) is sitting at the top of the table.

Deepika returned to competition early this year to win a medal at the Asia Cup in Baghdad. The three-time Olympian missed the entire season last year after becoming a mother in December 2022.

In May this year, Deepika made a fourth-place finish at the Yecheon 2024 Hyundai Archery World Cup stage 2.

Even though the 30-year-old failed to make a podium finish at the Paris Olympics, she finally made a mark at the Archery World Cup Final in Mexico by clinching a silver medal in October.

This was the Indian archer's sixth medal in her ninth appearance in the finals and her first since becoming a mother in 2022.

However, she continued to miss out on the gold medal as she finished as runner-up in 2011, 12, 13, 15 and 24. She also won a bronze medal in 2018.

Dola Banerjee remains the only Indian to have won a gold in the World Cup Final, having topped the podium in Dubai in 2007.

Though Deepika made a quarterfinal exit from the Swiss Open last month, it did not impact her rise to the third spot.

Such has been Deepika's stature in Indian archery that the second-ranked Indian recurve archer is ranked 34th, with Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur holding the spot with 111 points each.