Archery World Cup Stage 3: Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das enter final of recurve mixed event

India’s top-ranked recurve archers Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das stormed into the final of the recurve mixed team event at the ongoing Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Paris on Thursday.

The husband-wife duo will meet The Netherlands’ Gabriela Schloesser and Sjef Van Den Berg in the Archery World Cup gold medal match.

Seeded fifth in the category, the Indian team received a bye in the first round. Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das locked horns with Great Britain’s Woodgate James and Bryony Pitman in the second round. Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das won 6-0 (38-36, 38-37, 40-34).

Shooting three-ten pointers and an eight, India surged ahead with a score of 38 while Great Britain’s duo could only manage to score nines. The second set mirrored the first for India and while Great Britain managed to put up a fight, they fell short by one point.

Read: Archery World Cup Stage 3: Deepika Kumari storms into semifinals, Atanu Das crashes out

Buoyed by the lead, Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari were on the money in the third set again, scoring a maximum of 40 points in four attempts while James and Pitman could only manage a paltry 34, handing India the match.

In the quarterfinal of the Archery World Cup, India breezed past USA 6-0 (37-35, 38-36, 37-36). The duo of Casey Kaufhold and Brady Ellison were no match for Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das.

In the first set, India managed a 10-pointer along with three nine-pointers to move to 37 while USA could only manage 35, with two eight-pointers, a nine and a ten.

Deepika and Atanu stepped up the gas in the second set by scoring an ‘X’ along with 10 and two nines to make it 38 while USA, trying to catch up, fell short by two points.

There was no looking back for India as the husband-wife duo closed the third set in no time with a scoreline of 37-36.

Can Deepika win a second stage of the Hyundai #Archery World Cup in 2021? #ArcheryWorldCup pic.twitter.com/1XSHEz0pZw

— World Archery (@worldarchery) June 23, 2021

Stiff challenge from Spain in the Archery World Cup

India were challenged for the first time in the team event when Spain tried to thwart the Indian resistance in the semifinal of the Archery World Cup.

In the first set, the Indians were left to play catchup as Spain throttled to 38 points, with two ‘X’ pointers and a 10, while India could only manage four nine pointers to settle for 36.

Jolted, Deepika and Atanu brought their best game forward when they scored 37 in the second set, but an eight-pointer from Spain in their first attempt meant they finished one point behind.

After restoring parity, both the teams were equally matched when they finished the third set on 37 points each and took the match score to three points apiece.

Spain somehow seemed to lose steam in the fourth as they whimpered out with just 33 on the board, which included a seven-pointer. However, India didn’t let their guard down, and bettered every shot to finish on 39 points and book a place in the recurve mixed Archery World Cup final.