India stun Korea again, Dhiraj-Kumkum win mixed team gold
Indian recurve archers continued their resurgence on the world stage, with Olympian Dhiraj Bommadevara and teenager Kumkum Mohod producing a fearless display to upset Olympic champions South Korea and clinch the recurve mixed team gold at the Archery World Cup Stage 3, here on Sunday.
The Indian pair defeated Kim Je-deok and Oh Ye-jin 5-1 (37-36, 37-36, 39-39) in a high-quality final, showing remarkable composure and intent against one of the most decorated teams in world archery.
Displaying maturity beyond her age, the 17-year-old Kumkum said she focused on the process rather than the opposition.
“I believed in myself completely. I just focused on the process and didn’t think about who was standing in front of me,” she said.
“I think I shot better today than I did in Shanghai. But definitely that gold medal there gave me a lot of confidence.”
The victory marked India’s second triumph over South Korea in as many months and underlined the growing confidence within the recurve setup in the build-up to the Asian Games in three months’ time.
At the Shanghai World Cup last month, the women’s trio of Deepika Kumari, Kumkum and Ankita Bhakat had stunned the record 10-time Olympic champions in the semifinals en route to gold. For Dhiraj, 24, and 17-year-old Kumkum, there was no trace of intimidation against a Korean side featuring Kim, the Tokyo Olympics mixed team gold medallist alongside An San and a member of South Korea’s Paris Olympics gold-winning men’s team.
Dhiraj and Kumkum, who made her World Cup debut only this season, held their nerve throughout the contest, matching the Koreans arrow for arrow before producing the decisive shots under pressure. Paris Olympian Dhiraj, India’s highest-ranked recurve archer at world No. 16, capped the victory in style by shooting a perfect 10 in the final arrow of the match. Overall the duo shot three 10s each; while Kumkum shot three 9s, Dhiraj shot two and once he shot into 8-ring, that summed up their team bonding.
