Archery World Cup: Deepika Kumari-led women's recurve team claims silver in Paris

The Indian women’s archery team settled for silver on the final day of the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Paris as the trio of Deepika Kumari, Simranjeet Kaur and Ankita Bhakat lost to Chinese Taipei 1-5 in the gold medal match on Sunday. Chinese Taipei’s trio of Lei Chien-Ying, Peng Chia-Mao and Kuo Tzu Ying wrapped up the game by the third set of the match as the final scoreline read 168-163 in a one-sided encounter. Chinese Taipei took the first set 56-53 while claiming two points before 13th-seeded Indians put up a fight to level the second set 56-each to share a point apiece. The Asian rivals, however, remained consistent in the third set 56-53 to take an unassailable lead of 1-5 and win the gold medal. This was India’s third medal in space of 24 hours as earlier compound archers claimed gold and silver medals in mixed team and women’s individual final respectively. On a comeback trail since getting dropped for the now-postponed Asian Games, Jyothi Surekha shone the brightest as she first teamed up with Abhishek Verma for the gold and then settled for silver in the women’s individual final. This is also a comeback tournament for world No 3 Deepika, who flopped at the Asiad trials, along with husband Atanu Das. Deepika also had trouble on her return to the international stage as she couldn’t find a spot in the Top 30 while missing out on a mixed team spot as Bhakat finished ahead of her. On Thursday , however, Deepika and team made a case for themselves as they defeated fourth seed Ukraine, Great Britain followed by Turkey in the semi-final to reach the gold medal match. With the three medals in Paris, India remain second in the medal tally with four gold behind powerhouse South Korea, who have six gold. Great Britain, however, now have matched India’s gold tally and only sit at third because of India’s superior medal haul of 9, which is same as South Korea. World Cup Stage 4 is scheduled in Colombia next month, followed by World Cup Final in Mexico in October. Read all the Latest News ****, Trending News ****, Cricket News ****, Bollywood News ****, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook****, Twitter and Instagram****.