Very important to win Olympic medals, says Deepika Kumari

The 27-year-old won three Gold medals in the stage three of Archery World Cup.

India's Deepika Kumari won three Gold medals on Sunday with her victory in the recurve women's event at the third stage of the 2021 Archery World Cup in Paris, France.

The World No. 3 beat Russia's Elena Osipova 6-0 to capture the third podium in the tournament. She won the other two Gold medals in the women's team and mixed team events, respectively.

"I’m happy, but at the same time, I have to continue my performance like this. I want to improve that because the upcoming tournament is very, very important to us. I’m trying my best to continue learning whatever I can," said Deepika Kumari.

The upcoming tournament is the Tokyo Olympics which is less than a month away. Deepika will represent India as the lone female archer in Japan. She will be joining a full men's team slate as they strive to win the country's first archery medal on the world's grandest stage.

On Tokyo Olympics

Deepika Kumari has won on the international circuit before. It's a medal in Tokyo Olympics that she craves.

She remarked, "It’s very important. Our country, in archery, doesn’t have any Olympic medals. It’s very important to win Olympic medals, so it’s very important to me."

Her performance at the Charlety Stadium arena suggests that she will be a contender for a medal in Japan. She beat Mexico's Ana Vazquez in the semifinals 6-2. It was a rematch of the team final. Deepika swept Osipova in straight sets by hitting a bullseye to win her fourth-career individual Gold on the international circuit.

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Deepika Kumari secured an automatic bid to the Archery World Cup Finals with her first-place finish at stage one in Guatemala City at the beginning of the season. With her victory in Paris, a fourth points slot will open up for an archer to compete in the season finale in September.

USA archer Mackenzie Brown, who lost to Osipova in the bronze medal match, will still be in Yankton on points despite losing both of her matches of the final four. The Tokyo-bound archer held a 5-1 lead over Osipova in their semifinal match, but the Russian clawed back to face Kumari in the final.

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