B. Dhiraj led India to two bronze medals in recurve competitions on the final day of the Archery World Cup Stage-3 in Antalya, Turkey, on Sunday.
Dhiraj combined with Bhajan Kaur to deliver the mixed team bronze before securing the men’s individual bronze.
The Indians rallied from a set down to beat the Mexican pair of Matias Grande and Alejandra Valencia, who is a 2020 Olympics mixed team bronze medallist, 5-3 (35-38, 40-39, 38-37, 38-38) to take the third place.
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Dhiraj and Bhajan, who could not hit a 10 in the opening set, improved their game to score at least two 10s in the next three sets to ensure a podium finish.
Dhiraj, who landed an individual bronze in Stage-1 in Antalya in April last year, collected another individual bronze at one of his favourite venues.
The Indian lost his semifinal match to Korean World and Olympic gold medallist Kim Woojin 6-2 (29-29, 27-30, 29-29, 27-29), but bounced back to defeat Italian Mauro Nespoli, Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, 7-3 (28-27, 29-28, 27-28, 28-28, 29-30) for the bronze.
After taking two sets, Dhiraj, who is the only archer from the country to qualify for Paris 2024 so far, saw Nespoli fight back and close the gap to 4-2 and share the honours in the fourth to make it 5-3. But the Indian held his nerve to shoot three perfect shots in the final set and claim a morale-boosting medal ahead of the Olympics.
Ankita Bhakat lost her semifinal and bronze medal contests to China’s Yang Xiaolei (6-2) and Mexico’s Alejandra (7-3), respectively.
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