Archery World Cup: Couple Deepika Kumari & Atanu Das win individual gold, India bag 4 medals

India finishes with an outstanding run at the Archery World Cup Stage I in Guatemala City the capital of Guatemala on Monday. The Indian team bagged three gold medals and a bronze medal to finish off the campaign with the married couple of Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das both winning gold in their individual event.

India's ace shuttler and former world no. 1 Deepika Kumari won gold in the women's individual recurve event after she beat the USA's Mackenzie Brown in a shoot-off (5-5) in the final. In the shoot-off both Deepika and Brown hit 9 points, however, the Indian got the better of her rival owing to her arrow falling closer to the middle point of the target. This was Deepika's third individual World Cup gold medal after 2012 and 2018. In the semifinal, she beat Mexico's Alejandra Valencia by 7-3.

In the men's individual recurve event, Deepika's husband Atanu Das beat Spain's Daniel Castro by 6-4 in the final. This was Atanu's first-ever individual gold medal in Archery World Cup. He had one indoor Archery World Cup gold medal, which he won in Las Vegas in 2017. "A big moral boost for me, ahead of Olympics", says Atanu Das.

Earlier, the Indian women's recurve team, comprising Deepika, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari, held its nerve to pip Mexico 5-4 (27-26) in an intriguing final to grab a gold medal. Returning to the World Cup after almost two years, the Indian team, who are yet to clinch an Olympic team quota, trailed 2-4 after the third set. But the trio showed perfect composure to bounce back in the fourth set before clinching the issue 5-4 (27-26) in the shoot-off en route to their first women's recurve team gold since 2014. In the shoot-off, Ankita started off with a nine, while the 19-year-old Komalika drifted away with an eight as it was down to Deepika versus her more fancied rival Aida Roman, the 2012 London Olympics silver medallist, in the final arrow. The star Indian held her nerves and drilled a perfect 10 as Aida, needing a nine to prolong the shoot-off, cracked under pressure and shot eight. This was India's fifth recurve women's team gold in World Cup having won it previously in Shanghai-2011, Medellin-2013, Wroclaw-2013 and 2014 with Deepika winning her fifth yellow metal.

The performance rubbed off on the mixed pair duo of Atanu Das and Ankita as they bagged a mixed pair bronze, upsetting top seed USA 6-2 with yet another fightback at Los Arcos here on the day. In the mixed pair bronze playoff, India trailed 0-2 after the first set but Das and Ankita complemented well in the second and third set to clinch the issue. Ankita shot two of the three 10s in the second set, while Das stepped it up in the third set with two 10s to down USA.