Deepika ends sixyear wait, bags archery World Cup gold

India’s archery ace puts up a solid show to beat her German opponent 73 in the final, qualifies for yearender

› The victory has come as a big motivation for her; she will now be more confident for her upcoming events like the Asian Games. POORNIMA MAHATO, archery coach

RANCHI: Six years after she shot into the national limelight by winning a gold medal at an archery World Cup stage event at the age of 18, Deepika Kumari, won the gold medal in the women’s recurve event at the World Cup (stage-3) held in Salt Lake City, US, thereby qualifying for the Archery World Cup final to be played in Samsun, Turkey, on September 29 and 30 — her seventh appearance in the seasonending event.

Kumari, a Padma Shri awardee, has won silver at the World Cup Final four times (2011,2012, 2013, and 2015). She was relieved by the win. “Finally! That’s what I said when I won this gold medal,” said Kumari, whose last victory at a World Cup stage event came six years ago, in Antalya back in 2012. At Salt Lake City, Kumari beat Michelle Kroppen of Germany 7-3.

“I was repeating to myself, ‘just do it the best, this is your time; just enjoy your game and forget about winning or losing and have fun’,” Kumari told the official website of World Archery federation. “Do I feel relieved to qualify? Yes and no. I’m not expecting anything, at the moment I’m just enjoying my game, I want to enjoy my game,” said Kumari, who has often failed to live up to expectations at the biggest stage.

Kumari has long been considered one of India’s potential medal winner at World Cups and even the Olympics. According to her coach at the Tata Archery Academy, Poornima Mahato, Kumari has “the potential to win any international event”.

“The victory has come as a big motivation for her; she will now be more confident for her upcoming events.”

According to the website of World Archery, the international governing body for the sport, Kumari took a 2-0 lead, before the German archer, who was making her individual debut in the finals arena, tied the match at 3-3. Kumari eventually won 7-3.

Kumari’s mother, Geeta Mahato, said over the phone from Vellore that the family has been “waiting for this moment for the last few years. This win will enrich her confidence for further events”.

“Deepika was under mental pressure due to her performance in recent years. Now, we hope she will win a gold medal for the country in the Olympics, as it has always been her dream to do so.”

Jharkhand chief minister, Raghubar Das, was among the first to laud Kumari’s win. “I extend my congratulations to Jharkhand’s daughter, Deepika Kumari, who made the state as well as the country proud,” Das tweeted.

Daughter of a former autodriver, Shiv Narayan Mahto, a resident of Ratu in Ranchi, Kumari started archery at the age of 11.