Indian Dheeraj Bommadevara (Photo: ANI)
It took India’s best archer, Dheeraj Bommadevara, 20 years from picking up a bow to win gold at the World Cup. And when he did, he secured a ‘double’ in the third stage of the World Cup in Antalya on Sunday.In their first meeting of the season, 24-year-old Olympian Dheeraj and 17-year-old Kumkum Anil Mohood stunned Korean duo Kim Ji-duk and Oh Ye-jin 5-1 (37-36, 37-36, 39-39) to win India’s first World Cup mixed team gold medal match since Antalya 2022, when Riddhi and Tarundeep Rai finished on top.It was an almost perfect run for the duo, who defeated Denmark 6-0, the United States 6-2 and Germany 6-2 to book a place in Sunday’s final against Korea, which has won two mixed team Olympic gold medals since the event joined the Tokyo 2020 Games.Hours later, Dheeraj returned to the arena to tame German Moritz Weiser 6-4 (2627, 28-28, 28-28, 3027, 28-23) in the singles semi-finals and then South Korean Lee Woo-seok, the bronze medalist at the Paris Olympics, 7-3 (3029, 29-28, 27-27, 27-29). (30-29) in the face of the summit.
Dheeraj, who made his World Cup debut in 2021, improved on his bronze-medal winning performances in the 2023, 24 and 25 World Cups, and reached the World Cup finals at the end of the season as well.
Rising star Kumkum was also part of the women’s team that stunned 10-time Olympic champion Korea in the semifinals en route to a gold medal at the World Cup in Shanghai last month. Although the more experienced Dheeraj was seen guiding Kumkum throughout the final, he later said, “I learned a lot from her fearless way of shooting.”