Archery World Cup 2024 Stage 1: India upset reigning Olympic champions Korea to clinch gold in men's recurve team event

Ankita-Dhiraj duo adds mixed team recurve bronze.

In a monumental achievement for Indian archery, the men’s recurve team of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav pulled off a stunning upset over the mighty South Koreans to win gold at the Archery World Cup 2024 Stage 1 in Shanghai, China on Sunday.

The trio displayed remarkable poise and focus as they defeated the reigning Olympic champions 5-1 in a gripping final, without dropping a single set. Their scores of 57-57, 57-55 and 55-53 were enough to outclass the Korean team featuring two Tokyo 2020 gold medal-winning squad members Kim Woo-jin and Kim Je-deok.

This is India’s first-ever triumph over the usually Impregnable South Korea in a World Cup recurve team final.

Tarundeep Rai was also part of the last Indian recurve men’s team to win gold at a World Cup event back in 2010 in Shanghai. On that occasion, he combined with Rahul Banerjee and Jayanta Talukdar to get the better of Japan in the final.

The historic victory will provide a massive boost to their chances of securing team qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

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In another commanding performance, the Indian mixed recurve duo of Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj secured a bronze medal, decisively defeating the Mexican duo of Alejandra Valencia and Matias Grande with a sweeping score of 6-0.

With five golds, one silver and a bronze so far in Shanghai, the Indian contingent has made an emphatic start to the 2024 World Cup season.

Having secured an individual Olympic quota through Dhiraj earlier, this team gold provides India a realistic chance of grabbing one of the two team quotas on offer based on world rankings after the third stage of the World Cup in Antalya in June. They currently sit third behind China and Korea.

Note

The last chance for archery teams to qualify for the Olympics will be at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya, Turkey, from June 18 to 23. After this event, the rankings will be used to give out two new spots for the Olympics for the first time.

The two countries that perform the best at this event, but haven’t qualified yet, will get the chance to send their teams to the Paris Olympics based on their world rankings in archery.

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