Ace India archer Deepika Kumari shrugged off her inferior run of form by clinching the gold medal in the women’s recurve event at the World Cup , beating Germany’s Michelle Kroppen by 7-3 to qualify for the circuit Final, scheduled later this year.
Deepika, a four-time World Cup final silver medallist , automatically qualified for the Archery World Cup Final in Samsun, Turkey, which will be her seventh appearance at the season-ending event.
“Finally!. That’s what I said when I won this gold medal,” said Deepika, whose last victory at a World Cup stage event came six years ago, in Antalya back in 2012.
The ace Indian archer opened the match with 29 out of a 30 possible points to take a 2-0 lead, before splitting the points with kroppen in the second.
The German archer, making her individual debut in the finals arena, won the third set and tied the match at 3-3. Deepika then took the fourth and fifth sets with a 29 and a 27, over Michelle’s pair of 26s, to win the match, 7-3.
“I was repeating to myself, just do it the best, this is your time; just enjoy your game and forget about winning or losing and have fun,” Deepika told the official website of World Archery Federation.
“Do I feel relieved to qualify? Yes and no. I’m not expecting anything, at the moment I’m just enjoying my game, I want to enjoy my game,” said Deepika, who has often failed to live up to expectations at the biggest stage like the Olympics.
