Antalya, June 14 (IANS) India’s Dhiraj Bommadevara capped a memorable day at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya, Turkiye, by clinching his maiden individual recurve gold medal before completing a golden double alongside teenage sensation Kumkum Mohod in the mixed team event on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Dhiraj delivered a steady performance in the men’s individual recurve final, defeating Olympic bronze medallist Lee Woo-seok of South Korea 7-3. This victory secured the biggest title of his career.

It was Dhiraj’s first individual gold medal at an Archery World Cup event and his fourth individual World Cup medal overall, having previously earned three bronze medals. His win also ended a five-year drought for India in the men’s individual recurve category. He became the first Indian to win World Cup gold in this event since Atanu Das did so in 2021. Jayanta Talukdar remains the only other Indian man to have claimed an individual recurve title at a World Cup event.

Dhiraj’s path to gold was challenging. In the semi-finals, he was down 3-1 against Germany’s Moritz Wieser before coming back to win 6-4, securing his spot in the gold-medal match. With that momentum, the Indian archer excelled in the final, outpacing Lee Woo-seok, one of the top recurve archers and an Olympic medallist, to take the top position on the podium.

Earlier in the day, Dhiraj also found success with 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod as they won the recurve mixed team gold medal. Seeded third, the Indian duo upset the top-seeded South Koreans Oh Yejin and Kim Je-deok 5-1 in the final, continuing India’s resurgence in recurve archery.

This win was especially significant given their opponents’ credentials. Kim Je-deok was part of South Korea’s mixed team that won gold at the Tokyo Olympics and has been on the champion men’s teams for both the Tokyo and Paris Games. Oh Yejin is a former youth world champion.

With this victory, Dhiraj and Kumkum became only the third Indian mixed recurve pair to win a World Cup gold medal. Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das were the first to do so in Paris in 2021, followed by Tarundeep Rai and Ridhi, who won gold in Antalya in 2022.

For Kumkum, this win was particularly meaningful as it marked her second consecutive World Cup gold medal. She was also part of India’s winning women’s recurve team at the previous World Cup in Shanghai.

–IANS

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