DEEPIKA HAS EYES ON GOLD AT CUP FINAL

New Delhi, Sept. 1: Fourtime runner-up Deepika Kumari will bid for a maiden gold medal when the Archery World Cup Final begins in Rome on Saturday.

Seven top seeds from the four stages of World Cup plus one entry from the host nation make the cut for the two-day event to determine the season’s best.

The opening day of the meet at the Stadio dei Marmi will be of compound section where no Indian is in fray while Deepika’s first round match is on Sunday.

Deepika faces a tough first round challenge in her Rio Olympics nemesis Ya-Ting Tan, a promising 23-year-old from Chinese Taipei who took a team bronze in 2016 and ousted the Indian in the individual pre-quarter-finals.

Tan is fresh from bagging a double silver in the Summer Universiade at home last month, and has claimed three gold and two silver in this year’s World Cups to give her the third seeding.

Deepika’s last World Cup medal was a silver that came before the Rio Olympics in Antalya World Cup 2016 and she has been going through a lean patch.

The 23-year-old from Ranchi may not have a medal this season but to her credit she has the second-highest average arrow in matchplay of any of the eight Romebound recurve women, and has loads of experience.

The sixth seeded Indian will start as a dark horse among the likes of Tan, and Koreans Chang Hye Jin (top seed) and Ki Bo Bae, the reigning Olympic champions.