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Updated June 27th, 2021 at 22:38 IST

India's Deepika Kumari completes gold medal hat-trick, makes history at Archery World Cup

Deepika Kumari beat Russia’s Elena Osipova in straight sets to capture a third title alongside the women’s and mixed team titles she won earlier in the day

Reported by: Ujjwal Samrat
Archery World Cup/Deepika Kumari
Image Credits: @WorldArchery/Twitter | Image:self
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In a proud moment for India, ace archer Deepika Kumari on Sunday at the World Cup Stage 3 went on a winning spree as she grabbed a hat-trick of gold medals. India made an unprecedented clean sweep at the third stage of the Archery World Cup in Paris for a perfect build-up to the Tokyo Olympics in less than a month's time.

Deepika Kumari, world number three archer, beat Russia’s Elena Osipova in straight sets to capture a third title alongside the women’s and mixed team titles she won earlier in the day. Notably, Deepika Kumari will represent India as the lone female archer in Tokyo Olympics, joining a full men’s team as they strive to win the country’s first archery medal at the world’s biggest sporting event.

Deepika Kumari eyeing to break India's medal drought in archery in Olympics 

After scripting history, Deepika Kumari said, "This is the first time I've won all three medals in a World Cup. I'm really happy but at the same time, I've to continue improving as we have some very, very important competitions lined up," Deepika said.

Less than a month from now, the Indian archers will be chasing their elusive Olympic medal dream among the best in the world.

"We do not have any Olympic medal in archery, so it's really important that we keep improving and keep up the show," she said.

In the semi-final, Deepika used all her experience to produce two spectacular opening sets to lead 4-0 against 20-year-old Ana Vazquez of Mexico before sealing a 6-2 win.

Deepika shot 29 each in the first two sets, while an under-pressure Ana faltered with two 8s to concede the match.

In the mixed pair final, fifth-seeded Atanu and Deepika complimented each other well as the latter came into her own after a sluggish start to give themselves a perfect anniversary gift in advance.

"It feels amazing. the first time we won the final together, it feels so happy. It feels we are made for each other. But at the ground, we are not a couple but like just other competitors, we motivate, support, and back each other," Atanu said.

Deepika and Atanu got married after a two-year courtship and would be celebrating their first wedding anniversary on June 30.

India at Archery World Cup Stage 3

India topped the medals tally with four gold medals as Abhishek Verma had clinched the solitary top medal in the compound section on Saturday. India's gold rush began with the women's recurve team of Deepika, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari notching up a comfortable win over Mexico, shrugging off the disappointment of missing Olympic qualification last week.

In a repeat of the World Cup first stage final where they struggled to clinch the gold, the trio this time did not even drop a set to win their second world title in two months.

Eyeing their first-ever gold medal together, Deepika and husband Atanu Das, who are India's best medal hope in archery in the Olympics, bounced back from a 0-2 deficit to down the Netherlands' Sjef van den Berg and Gabriela Schloesser 5-3.

That was the only time India faced some challenges on the final day here as they displayed fine composure to reign supreme.

Deepika blanked 17th ranked Russian Elena Osipova 6-0 to cap a perfect three out of three in the recurve women's section, her fourth individual World Cup gold medal.

The World No 3 had won it in Guatemala City 2021, Salt Lake City 2018, and Antalya 2012. Overall, she has nine gold, 12 silver, and seven bronze medals in the World Cup.

In the absence of the world number one Korea, the Indians faced little challenge to win the women's individual, team and mixed pair events with Deepika a constant in each of them, playing back-to-back four matches in less than five hours. Having secured Olympic qualifications, Korea, along with other Asian heavyweights like China and Chinese Taipei, skipped all the World Cups in the build-up to the Tokyo Games.

(Image Credits: @WorldArchery/Twitter)

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Published June 27th, 2021 at 22:38 IST

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