Kolkata, Aug 7: Having pocketed the recurve women’s top seed at the Archery World Cup last-stage, ace Indian archer Deepika Kumari is now eyeing a last-gasp berth into the World Cup Final where she has three silver medals.
“I will not be sad if I don’t go to Lausanne. Well, maybe a little bit sad,” Deepika told the FITA website after topping the charts in yesterday’s qualification in the World Cup Stage IV in Wroclaw, Poland.
“I like to shoot in finals, and I like to win,” Deepika said as she has got the two top seeds (recurve individual and mixed pair events) in Wroclaw to take the advantage.
The 20-year-old, who won gold in 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, now needs nothing short of a gold to earn a berth for the season-concluding Lausanne meet from September 5-7.
Left out of the Indian squad for Shanghai and Antalya before recording a zero-ranking-point finish in Medellin World Cup stage, Deepika turned back to her old coach Dharmendra Tiwari and her alma mater — Tata Archery Academy, something that has done the trick for Jharkhand archer.
“I had been shooting with a new set-up,” she said about her poor run to start off the season.
“It was not good. I was not confident. Last year and this season so far, it just hasn’t been working for me.
“Today, I shot as I would expect,” the Ranchi girl said with a smile after shooting 676 points, the best qualification result of the season.
Deepika is well aware that if she keeps shooting like this, yet another World Cup Final appearance is not out of reach.
Whether that happens this year, or another, she would surely like to do one better than the silvers she’s been collecting for the last three years.
City archer Dola Banerjee had won the coveted World Cup Final in 2007, the only Indian to have achieved the feat. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel