Deepika Kumari-Atanu Das won triple gold World Cup medals

Deepika Kumari-Atanu Das won triple gold World Cup medals.

Indian archery star couple Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das led the show with two individual gold medals as the country capped its best performance at a World Cup, with three golds and a bronze in the first leg of the tournament.

Former world number one Deepika claimed the third individual World Cup gold of her career to add to the team’s triumph, while her husband Das earned his first individual World Cup medal in style by winning the individual World Cup final in style. male recurve.

The two are now automatically qualified for the final of this season’s most coveted Archery World Cup.

“We travel together, we train together, we compete together and we win together,” said Das, who married Deepika in June last year after a two-year courtship, after claiming the gold medal on Sunday.

“She knows what I like and I know what she likes.”

This was the best World Cup result for India’s recurve archers with two individual and one team gold medals on their return to the biggest event of the international calendar year after nearly two years.

Furthermore, this was the best men’s individual result in Indian history since Jayanta Talukdar triumphed in Croatia in 2009.

India started with the female trio of Deepika, Ankita Bhakat, and Komalika Bari winning first team gold after seven years. They scored a surprising turnaround to defeat the imagined Mexico 5-4 (27-26) in an intriguing tiebreaker.

The performance rubbed off on the mixed pair of Das and Bhakat as they took bronze, defeating top seeds USA 6-2 with another fight at Los Arcos Sports Complex here.

But the icing on the cake came in the individual events later in the day Deepika and Das bagged two individual golds in their respective events.

Former world number one Deepika, who was third-seeded, kept her cool in an intense tie-breaker to overtake America’s eighth-seeded Mackenzie Brown 6-5 (9-9) as she struck closer to the center. In the semifinal, he had defeated his Mexican rival Alejandra Valencia 7-3.

This was Deepika’s third career stage win and the first since Salt Lake City 2018.

World number six Deepika was 3-1 up after two sets but saw that lead disappear after Brown tied the match with a 29 in the third and a 28 in the fourth.

However, the two-time Olympian stood her ground in the fifth, hitting a 29 and displaying the kind of stamina she has often been accused of lacking.

“The hardest part was the sound of the heartbeat, which made me really nervous,” she said, mimicking it for emphasis.

“It’s been a long time since I shot in the final,” he said. “It feels great and at the same time, I am happy and nervous. It gives me confidence and pushes me to give better performances ”.

But the best show came from her husband Das when he beat Spanish debutant Daniel Castro in the World Cup 6-4. Das’s previous best record in the individual section has been a fourth-place finish at Antalya 2016, where he lost to Kim Woojin in the bronze tiebreaker.

Giving three sets in the final against Castro, Das flipped a switch.

He closed on a 29 and a 30, firing his last 10 before his opponent finished, putting the match out of reach and sealing the problem with a punch in the air.

“It feels amazing. It’s like dreams come true. I have worked for so many years and now this is paying off. This is my first title and I am very happy, ”said Das.

In his last perfect set for gold, he said: “I just did my best and was there. I didn’t think about the future or the past, only the present. ”

“It’s beautiful. It’s a huge boost for me before the Olympics. I’m working the right way,” said Das, who will shoot in his second Olympics in Tokyo.