Former World No. 1 Indian recurve archer Deepika Kumari’s fortunes did not change much from the morning at the World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya, Turkey on Sunday. After being on the wrong end of the bronze medal play-off in the women’s recurve team event, Kumari lost yet another medal round – this time with Atanu Das in the mixed recurve gold medal match.
The opponents though were formidable. The sixth-seeded team of Deepika and Atanu faced the top-seeded Korean combine of Choi Misun and Ku Bonchan and the latter won the contest 5-1 (36-33, 36-36, 38-37).
The wind in the Turkish coast city did play a part in the score and especially wreaked havoc on the 22-year-old Deepika, who faltered to hit a poor 6 in the first set. Even though she recovered well in the subsequent sets, it was still not enough to outshine the Koreans.
The closest fight that India could give was when they drew the second set 36-36.
This is India’s first medal from the Antalya World Cup Stage 3 this year.
The Indian contingent will hope to add one more when Das plays the bronze medal contest in the individual section later in the day.
