Deepika bags her fifth silver at Archery World Cup Final; Dhiraj falls early

Deepika Kumari returns to World Cup Final, wins silver after losing to Li Jiaman, India's only medalist.

India's premier recurve archer Deepika Kumari won her fifth silver medal at the World Cup Final after losing the summit clash 0-6 to China's Li Jiaman, here.

Returning to the World Cup Final after three years following the birth of her daughter in December 2022, four-time Olympian Deepika was seeded third in the eight-archer field.

She had a smooth run through the semifinals but probably the pressure of gold medal match got to her against fourth-seed Li Jiaman, a team silver medalist from the Paris Olympics.

It was Deepika's ninth appearance at the World Cup Final where she has also bagged a bronze.

Dola Banerjee is the only Indian archer to have won a gold in the World Cup Final, having topped the podium in Dubai 2007.

In the men's recurve section, Dhiraj Bommadevara, despite leading 4-2, could not hold off the challenge from South Korea’s Paris Olympics bronze medallist, Lee Woo Seok in the opening round and made an early exit .

The pressure once again seemed to affect the Indian archers, who have often struggled in high-stakes matches.