2018 Archery World Cup Finals: Deepika Kumari wins bronze

The 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final was held in Samsun, Turkey from 29th to 30th of September.

South Korea, the archery powerhouse, topped the podium with three gold medals, one silver and a bronze. South Korean archers Kim Woojin and Lee Eun Gyeong won the Men's and Women's Recurve Individual events, respectively. In the Recurve Mixed team event, South Korea won their third gold medal of the tournament, by beating hosts, Turkey.

With one gold and two silver medals, hosts Turkey were second in the podium. They won the Mixed team gold in Compound Archery, by beating India in the finals.

Kris Schaff of USA won the gold medal in the Men's Compound Individual event, by beating Demir Elmaagacli of Turkey. In the Women's Compound Individual Event, the gold medal went to Colombia's Sara Lopez.

India's Performance in the event

The Indian Archery contingent had a very good outing in Samsun. Although they failed to win any gold medals, they ended up with a silver and two bronze medals.

In Recurve Women's Individual event, India's biggest star archer, Deepika Kumari, won a bronze medal. She started off her campaign with 6-4 points win against Lei Chien Ying of Chinese Taipei to enter the semifinals. However, in the semifinals, she lost her match by 3-7 points against Yasemin Anagoz of Turkey. In the bronze medal match against Germany's Lisa Unruh, Deepika held her nerve, to win the match in a shoot-off after the scores were tied at 5-5.

India won their second bronze medal, in the Men's Compound individual event, where India's number one compound archer, Abhishek Verma finished third. Abhishek started off his campaign, with a close victory against Braden Gellenthien of USA in the quarterfinals. However, in the semifinals, he went down fighting, against Turkey's Elmaagachi. In the bronze medal match against Kim Jongho of South Korea, Abhishek was at his very best, as he went on to win by 149-147 points and ensured himself a place in the podium.

India's solitary silver medal came in the Compound's Mixed Team event, where they lost to hosts Turkey by 159-152 points in the finals. Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha represented the Indian team in this mixed team event.

With the top eight archers of the world, competing in each of the individual events, the quality of competition in the tournament was of the highest level. Despite such stiff competition, all the participating Indian archers were able to win a medal - a remarkable achievement.