Indian men's team defeats Olympic champions South Korea in the first stage of the Archery World Cup, winning historic gold medal for the first time in 14 years

On April 28th in Shanghai, the Indian men's recurve team consisting of Dheeraj Bomadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav achieved a historic victory, winning the gold medal at the Archery World Cup for the first time in 14 years. This shocked South Korea, the current Olympic champions.

This is the first win for the Indian men's recurve team against an archery powerhouse in the World Cup finals, increasing their chances of securing a spot in the upcoming Paris Olympics.

The trio of Dheeraj, Tarundeep and Pravin showed icy composure as they defeated the mighty Korean side without dropping a set.

Tarundeep, a 40-year-old army man, was also part of the team that won the gold medal at the fourth stage of the Shanghai World Cup in August 2010. Later, the recurve team consisting of Rahul Banerjee, Tarundeep and Jayanta defeated Japan.

In the battle between the top two seeds of the tournament, India won 5-1 (57-57, 57-55, 55-53), taking the number of gold medals in the season-opening Stage 1 World Cup to five.

This success also inspired the mixed team of Ankita Bakat and Dheeraj, who defeated Alejandra Valencia and Matias Grande (Mexico) 6-0 (35-31, 38-35, 39-37) to take the bronze medal. obtained.

Overall, India have won five gold, one silver and one bronze so far, but former world number one Deepika Kumari will compete in the women's recurve individual semi-finals later in the day, adding I'm aiming for a medal.

In the men's team final, India faced arch-rival South Korea. South Korea had Kim Woo-jin and Kim Jae-duk, members of the Tokyo Olympics gold medal winning team. Lee Wooseok was the third member.

But the Indian troika put up a brave front, hitting three 10s, including two Xs (close to center) and three nines, to match their rivals (57 all) in the first set.

Pressure resumed on the Koreans, who slipped into the eight ring twice, but the Indian hit four perfect 10s from six arrows, including three He led with 1.

In the next set, the Koreans struggled, scoring just 53 points, but the Indians held their own and scored 55 points in the middle to close out the match and win their first Men's Team World Cup gold medal since 2010. .

Prior to this victory, the women's team had defeated South Korea twice at the 2013 World Cup, in the third stage of Medellin in July and the fourth stage of Wrocław in August.

“It's always nerve-wracking when South Korea make it to the finals. But now, no one doubts our ability to beat them,” said Rahul, a former Commonwealth Games gold medalist and member of the 2010 Shanghai winning team. Banerjee declared.

“They have shown perfect rhythm since the qualifying round and this is definitely one of the biggest wins in archery. They will have to maintain this momentum until Paris,” he added.

So far, India has the only Olympic berth in the men's individual category, won by Dheeraj.

The final Olympic qualifying event will be the third stage World Cup in Antalya, Turkey from June 18 to 23, after which two additional spots will be awarded for the first time in the team rankings.

The top two countries that do not make it through the qualifying rounds will earn a spot on the Paris representative team from the archery world rankings.

India (231 points) is currently third in the world rankings behind China (241 points) and number one South Korea (340 points), well placed to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

Earlier on Saturday, Indian composite archers dominated the team competitions, winning gold medals in men's, women's and mixed teams.

Reigning Asian Games champion Jyoti Surekha Vennam won her fourth gold medal in the women's individual combined category, while Priyanshu won her first World Cup silver medal in the men's individual combined category.