Mumbai: In many Olympic sports, defeating the Chinese in their den is considered among the most monumental of challenges. The crowd unabashedly screams for their own, the field of play turns into a cauldron, the players up against it can often feel shaken by it.
It’s just the kind of external variable that has impacted Indian archers in big events in the past, largely negatively. And it’s something the recurve women’s team had to front up with again on Sunday in a high-pressure World Cup Stage 2 final inside Shanghai’s Yuanshen Stadium.
“More than 200 people had packed the arena, and almost everyone was cheering loudly for their team,” Prafull Dange, coach of the women’s team at this event, told HT from Shanghai. “I just told our players to close the ears, shut out the noise, and focus on shooting the arrows.”
The trio of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Kumkum Mohod did that well enough and long enough to earn a World Cup gold. The Indians held their nerve and edged past China’s Zhu Jingyi, Huang Yuwei and Yu Qi 5-4 in a shoot-off (28-26) from being all square at 4-4 after four sets.
Not since 2021, in Paris, has an Indian women’s team come back with a World Cup gold in recurve. Deepika, the country’s most decorated archer who continues to add medals to her CV at 31, and Ankita, India’s most consistent face at these events over the last couple of years, were also the golden women of Paris. The newbie golden woman of Shanghai is 17-year-old Kumkum, who dispatched an ice-cool 10 in the shoot-off, featuring in just her second senior World Cup.
This gold holds significance not just because of the rarity and the rivals, but also who the Indians beat to get there and what’s to come later this year.
India went past South Korea, a country that often oozes an unbeatable aura in recurve archery, in a semi-final victory that was composed and clinical. If that Korean side had two rookies and the current world No.1, this Chinese side was in form as winners of the World Cup Stage 1 in Puebla, Mexico, last month.
Both these continental powerhouses will also be gunning for the podium at the Asian Games in September-October in Japan, and the Indian team can look back at these wins with confidence.
“Especially if we consider the upcoming events, this is a big result and an important one for the players,” said Dange. “They may work and train as hard as they can but if they don’t get the results, the confidence also doesn’t come. The morale among all the three is high after this. And all three of them coordinated well and played their part.”
Dange has coached Kumkum, who topped the trials, for eight years, and in the absence of a national coach, played the role of the team’s coach. “I too had some nerves,” he said. “I know Kumkum well but it was new for me with Deepika and Ankita. Thankfully it went well.”
Deepika stepped up as the senior pro, in guiding and encouraging her younger compatriots during matches, and in setting the tone for the final that yo-yoed between both teams.
Deepika’s 10 in the first set turned it in India’s favour (54-53) despite the inconsistent start by Ankita and Kumkum. China fought back to level and then edged ahead in the next two sets (55-52 and 57-56), after Deepika shot a 7 with 10 needed to level the second set.
“That time I was a little distracted,” Deepika told World Archery. “… but then it was good because my third member was not shooting well and she was a little bit nervous handling it. I said to Ankita, “Don’t worry, it’s okay, it’s going to be okay, just calm down, I’m focusing on it’.”
The visitors stood on the brink when Kumkum shot a 7 in the fourth set, but with the hosts needing 9 off their final shot to tie the set and win the match, they fumbled an 8. India saved their consistent best for the shoot-off, as Ankita began with a 9 and Kumkum went one better. With China shooting 9-9-8, Deepika sealed the gold with a 9 and a smile.
The other Indian recurve archer in the medal hunt, Simranjeet Kaur, finished fourth in the individual event. She was blanked by reigning Korean world champion Kang Chae-young 6-0 in the semi-final, and lost to another Korean, Jang Min-hee, 6-4 in the bronze medal match.
