Explained: Why is Deepika Kumari not playing in the Antalya Archery World Cup 2023?

Top Indian female archer Deepika Kumari will not feature in the ongoing Archery World Cup 2023, in Antalya, Turkey.

The 2023 Archery World Cup is scheduled to take place from 18th April to 23rd April 2023, in Antalya Turkey, with an Indian contingent consisting of participants in the singles, doubles, and mixed team categories for both men and women. The Indian team will be competing in the recurve (individuals & teams), compound (individuals & teams), and mixed team categories respectively.

However, the big name missing from the contingent is that of Deepika Kumari, a multiple times medal winner in International archery for India which includes the Asian Games, the Archery World Cup, the Archery World Championships, and the Asian Championships, etc.

Her absence might come as a surprise, but recently she's also missed out on a berth in the Indian Archery contingent headed for the Asian Games in Hangzhou, later this year.

Deepika celebrated becoming a mother to her daughter earlier this year, and her determination to return to top-level archery should be applauded given that she returned to training just 20 days after giving birth to her child. Despite her attempts to make a comeback to the National squad, participating in Open Senior National trials in January, she failed to make it to the final Asian Games contingent.

This will be the first time since 2010 that she won't be seen in action in the Asian Games. Despite finishing 9th amongst 16 participants, the Archery Association of India (AAI) awarded the top 4 archers a place in the final Indian squad. The women selected to represent India in all competitions this year were Bhajan Kaur, Aditi Jaiswal, Ankita Bhakat, and Simranjeet Kaur, who finished top four in that order respectively.

In March, the trials were held for the team to travel to the Archery World Cup, in Turkey and Deepika managed to finish fifth in the trials, falling just short of a top-four berth and a spot in the Indian women's squad.

One can still feel hopeful after Indian High-Performance Director Sanjeeva Singh mentioned that a provision to replace any athlete on basis of a sub-par performance was also there, but a call might not be taken until after the conclusion of the fourth stage of the Archery World Cup.