Archery WC: Deepika wins silver in Tokyo
Tokyo, Sept 23 (IBNS)
Archer Deepika Kumar on Sunday settled for a silver in the World Cup final after she lost to World No.1 Bo Bae Ki of South Korea in the recurve women's individual event at Hibiya Park here.
Smarting from a poor show in the London Olympics, Deepika won the quarterfinals and semifinals to lead 4-0 in the final. But she lost to Bo Bae Ki before she lost 4-6 ((26-23, 27-25, 24-28, 23-26, 25-26).
After a disappointing Olympic Games for Deepika Kumari, the Indian former world No. 1, shot a great quarterfinal to find herself in this semifinal against the Ogden 2nd place finisher Jennifer Nichols-Hardy who had already picked up a mixed team victory at this event.
Deepika had the best start taking the first set 28-24, but Nichols won the second set 25-24. Deepika then took the lead back, 26-25 in the third set.
It was a tough battle under the rain as both athletes struggled to hit the 10-ring. Both archers did raise their games in the fourth set as Nichols scored 9-9-9, but Deepika did again slightly better, 9-10-9. After Istanbul last year where she finished 2nd, Kumari was back in the gold medal match of a World Cup Final!
However, she lost to the South Korean in the final.
Korea continued its domination this summer and for the first time two of their athletes won the World Cup Final! The current world champion Kim Woojin won in Recurve Men and the double Olympic Champion Ki Bo Bae won in Recurve Women beating Deepika.