Archery World Cup Stage 1: Deepika Kumari is back - preview, Indian archers, streaming info

The 18th edition of the Archery World Cup is upon us, a four-part tournament scheduled to begin on April 23 and continue until October 20, 2024.

The first of four stages will be held in Shanghai from April 23 to 28, followed by Yecheon (South Korea) and Antalya (Turkey) and the grand finale in Tlaxcala (Mexico) in October.

Marcus D’Almeida, Kang Chae Young, Mathias Fullerton and Sara Lopez enter the year as reigning champions.

It is a noteworthy fact that never before has a world champion gone on to win the Olympics and with the Paris Olympics looming large, the players will be poised to break that voodoo by doing the historic double.

With more than 300 archers set to compete in this world cup, the first stage in China promises to be a fascinating encounter with high octane matches throughout. In particular, this tournament is of massive importance to the Indian athletes who will be in Shanghai competing across all categories.

A lot at stake for the Indian team

The Olympic quota is up for grabs and the competing Indians would be keen to use this tournament to secure their Paris tickets.

To qualify full team quotas to Paris 2024, the Indian teams must finish in the top three (men) or top four (women) at the final selection event in Antalya in June, or be among the top two unqualified teams in the World Archery Rankings following that event.

Deep runs at stages of the upcoming Archery World Cup circuit, which offer considerable world ranking points, will help immensely.

Former world no.1 Deepika Kumari is back in 2024 after missing out on most of 2023 owing to her motherhood.

She enters this critical season as India’s top performer in the recurve and will be accompanied by Bhajan Kaur, Ankita Bhakat and former under-18 world champion Komalika Bari.

Dhiraj Bommadevara is the only confirmed Paris-bound archer thanks to his triumph at the Asian continental qualifier in November 2023.

He will be joined by three-time Olympian Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav and Mrinal Chauhan comprise the Recurve men's lineup.

Indian participants in the Archery World Cup stage 1:

Compound Men: Priyansh, Rajat Chauhan, Prathamesh Bhalchandra Fuge, Abhishek Verma.

Compound Women: Avneet Kaur, Parneet Kaur, Aditi Gopichand Swami, Jyothi Surekha Vennam.

Recurve Men: Dhiraj Bommadevara, Mrinal Chauhan, Praveen Ramesh Jadhav, Tarundeep Rai.

Recurve Women: Bhajan Kaur, Ankita Bhakat, Komalika Bari, Deepika Kumari.

Schedule for Archery World Cup Stage 1

23 April: Official Practice & Qualification Round Compound 50m Round.

24 April: Team Eliminations & Qualification, Compound Team Matches & Recurve Qualifications.

25 April: Individual Eliminations, Team Eliminations, Recurve Team Matches and Compound Individual Matches.

26 April: Mixed Team Eliminations & Individual Eliminations, Mixed Team Matches and Recurve Individual Matches.

27 April: Compound finals.

28 April: Recurve finals.

Where to watch Archery World Cup Stage 1

Only the finals will be streamed live. You can catch the live stream of the finals for both events on the official World Archery YouTube channel.