Kudos to Kumari! Archer Deepika Kumari becomes World No. 1!

New Delhi, June 28: After bagging three gold medals, Archer Deepika Kumari on Monday became the world number one as World Archery unveiled its latest rankings. She completed her hat-trick of gold medals at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Paris on Sunday by winning the Recurve individual event by 6-0.

 

India's ace archer Kumari defeated the Russian, Elena Osipova by 6-0 in a thumping manner. This is Deepika's second individual World Cup Gold medal of 2021 and the third gold of the day as she had earlier won gold in the women's team and mixed team event as well on Sunday.

 

 

“I am 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 am trying my best to continue learning whatever I can," the official website of World Archery quoted Kumari as saying.

 

 

Earlier the husband-wife duo of Deepika and Atanu clinched their first World Cup gold medal as a pair after defeating the Dutch pair of Gabriela Schloesser and Sjef Van Den Berg by 5-3 after a set down.

 

At the start of the day, India women's recurve team comprising of Deepika Kumari, Komalika Bari, and Ankita Bhakat bagged a gold medal at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in the French capital. The team defeated Mexico 5-1 in the finals. The upcoming tournament, of course, is the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which are less than a month away. Kumari will represent India as the lone female archer in Japan, joining a full men’s team as they strive to win the country’s first archery medal at the world’s biggest sporting event.

 

 

PM Modi, in his Mann Ki Baat, also praised and wished her for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. He said, "Deepika Kumari ji’s life too has been full of ups and downs. Deepika’s father drives an auto rickshaw and her mother is a nurse, and now see, Deepika is at present the only female archer from India in the Tokyo Olympics. Our best wishes are with Deepika."