Archery World Cup: Deepika and Atanu lose in bronze medal play-offs

While Deepika fell short of her sixth medal at the event in an agonising fashion after losing in a shoot-off, Atanu lost his bronze-medal play-off 0-6 to Olympic champion Mete Gazoz of Turkey.

Guided by her archer husband Atanu Das on a rainy day, Deepika staved off a strong challenge from Svetlana in the quarterfinals to keep alive her chances for a sixth WCF medal.

World No.2 Deepika Kumari lost to Olympic team bronze winner Michelle Kroppen of Germany in the shoot-off to narrowly miss out on the recurve women’s individual bronze medal in the Archery World Cup Final (WCF) here on Thursday.

Deepika shot well but found Michelle to be too good in the first two sets. The German gathered perfect scores to win 30-28 and 30-29 and take a healthy 4-0 lead.

With Michelle wobbling under pressure, Deepika, who collected 28s in the next three sets, fought back to level the scores 5-5 and force a shoot-off.

Deepika shot wide into the blue circles on the left side to manage a 6. Michelle got a 9 and became the first German ever to win a WCF medal.

Atanu Das, like his wife Deepika Kumari, lost in the bronze medal match to return without a podium finish.

Atanu, making his debut in the WCF, rallied to beat German Maximilian Weckmuller 6-2 (26-27, 29-25, 29-28, 29-28) in the recurve men’s individual quarterfinals. However, he was beaten 6-2 (29-28, 28-27, 29-30, 30-27) by multiple World championships and Olympic medallist and current World No. 1 Brady Ellison of the USA in the semifinals.

In the bronze medal match against reigning Olympic champion Mete Gazoz of Turkey, Atanu lost 6-0 in straight sets. Gazoz won 29-27, 27-26, 30-28.

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Guided by Atanu on a cold and rainy day, Deepika – who has won four silver medals and a bronze in the event – defeated Olympic team silver medallist Svetlana Gomboeva of Russia 6-4 in the quarterfinals, but lost to another Russian, double Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Elena Osipova, 6-2 in the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Osipova shot consistently to win the first two sets 29-27 and 29-26 to establish a 4-0 lead.

Deepika raised her game to get a 10 each in third and fourth sets, but Osipova matched the Indian’s efforts to split points and advance to the final.

Abhishek, the lone Indian compound archer in fray, crashed out in the men’s individual quarterfinals, losing 146-142 to American Braden Gellenthien, a multiple World championships team gold winner, on Wednesday.