Shanghai, May 8 (IANS) India’s Simranjeet Kaur advanced to the final four of the women’s recurve individual event at the Archery World Cup Stage 2 here at the Yuanshen Sports Centre on Friday.

On her first time on a World Cup final stage, Simranjeet doubled Fong You Jhu’s 10 count of two in the quarter-final, dropping an impressive 27, 28, 29 three-end score to sweep aside her Chinese Taipei counterpart 6-0.

She was highly emotional once the result was confirmed, wiping away tears before quickly going on her phone to call her beloved father. “I just called my dad after the match and I cried because it actually is a big deal for me and it was long-awaited,” the 27-year-old archer was quoted by World Archery.

“I feel like this is the best thing that can ever happen to an archer who is preparing for each and every World Cup, the bigger events and all the competitions. I think 1000 times today I have just told myself to detach and shoot. Detach from the result, detach from the emotions and everything else – detach from each and every thing, just shoot,” she said.

Simranjeet actually finished bottom of the four-woman Indian recurve contingent in Wednesday’s qualification, with Ankita Bhakat 10th, Kumkum Anil Mohod 11th and regular stalwart Deepika Kumari 14th. However, Ankit’s, Kumkum’s and Deepika’s campaigns ended in the third and fourth rounds, respectively.

Interestingly, Ankita lost 6-5 to Fong You, whom Simranjeet defeated in the quarterfinal, in the third round after a shoot-off. Meanwhile, Deepika suffered a 4-6 loss at the hands of Korean archer Kang Chaeyoung and Kumkum fell to Alejandra Valencia Trujillo 3-7 of Mexico.

The 2024 Asia Cup silver medallist Simranjeet is seeded 15th overall and therefore will not feature in India’s recurve women’s team gold medal match against China, although all four athletes could still leave Shanghai with medals on Sunday.

In the men’s individual recurve, India’s campaign ended with Dhiraj Bommadevara’s 0-6 loss to Frenchman Jean-Charles Valladont in the fourth round.

–IANS

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