India's Archery Team Misses Medals At World Cup In Antalya, Raises Concerns
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India's archery team failed to win medals at Stage 3 of the World Cup in Antalya, raising concerns about team selection and preparation as even star archers underperformed.
Indian archery experienced a disappointing outcome at Stage 3 of the World Cup on Saturday, failing to secure any medals. This performance has raised serious concerns about team selection, preparation, and mental resilience, particularly with the Asian Games approaching in a year.
The success in Shanghai last month, where India ranked second in the medal tally with two gold, one silver, and four bronze medals, now appears distant.
In Antalya, both recurve and compound archers underperformed, failing to achieve a single podium finish, even in their traditionally strong compound category.
Following the compound archers' elimination in both individual and team events, the recurve results proved equally disappointing. Even seasoned archers like four-time Olympians Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai failed to progress to the medal rounds.
Simranjeet Kaur demonstrated some resilience, pushing Korean Olympic gold medallist An San to a shoot-off in the quarter-finals on Saturday. Despite narrowly qualifying in 54th place with the third-lowest qualification score, she held a 5-3 lead and required just one point to secure victory against An San. However, succumbing to pressure in the final set, she lost 5-6 (29-28, 24-29, 27-24, 27-27, 23-29) (8-11).
Deepika Kumari also faced setbacks, with An San defeating her three times, dashing her hopes for a consecutive medal after winning bronze in Shanghai last month. Deepika, a former world number one, continues to struggle against top-tier opponents.
Ankita Bhakat, India's highest-ranked archer in qualification at 32nd, lost in the first round 2-6 (27-26, 26-28, 29-30, 28-29) to Dunya Yenhihayat, despite an initial 2-0 lead.
The men fared no better. Parth Salunkhe, a former youth world champion and Shanghai bronze medallist, exited in the first round, losing to Lu Shuai of China 2-6 (28-29, 25-28, 28-25, 27-30). At 41, Tarundeep Rai's selection appears questionable, following his 2-6 defeat to Germany's Mathias Kramer (28-30, 29-28, 27-31, 29-32).
Seasoned competitor Atanu Das, after establishing a 4-2 lead, lost to world number one Brady Ellison 4-6 (28-27, 30-31, 31-30, 30-31, 27-30). Dhiraj Bommadevara, India's top qualifier at 13th, also relinquished a 4-2 advantage, losing 4-6 (30-30, 30-30, 31-30, 28-29, 28-30) to Chinese Taipei's Tang Chin-Chun.
India's campaign in Antalya concluded without a medal. The closest the team came to a podium finish was in the recurve men's and compound women's team events, where both teams lost their respective bronze medal matches.
The compound women's team narrowly lost 238-239 to the USA. The recurve men's team was defeated 1-5 by France. The compound men's team, once among the world's elite, suffered a first-round exit. The compound mixed team also struggled, exiting in the quarter-finals.
In the recurve mixed team event, they failed to progress beyond the first round. The recurve women's team, despite a promising start, lost in the quarter-finals.
In the individual compound category, Rishabh Yadav and Madhura Dhamangaonkar reached the quarter-finals before being eliminated.
A significant concern for India is the declining form of top-ranked compound archers Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam. Jyothi, consistently a podium finisher until 2023, exited in the second round of 32, extending her medal drought beyond a year. Her last medal was gold at the Shanghai World Cup in April. Since then, the Asian Games gold medallist has experienced a downturn in performance.
Two-time Asian Games silver medallist Verma was eliminated in the round of 16 by teammate Rishabh Yadav. Verma has not won a medal since June 2023, when he secured gold in Medellin.
Questions will arise regarding team selection, particularly the continued inclusion of Rai, who has demonstrated limited capability in high-pressure situations. Deepika continues to struggle against elite competitors, especially Koreans. With emerging archers like Simranjeet showing potential, India's archery programme requires a comprehensive review, starting with bolder selection policies and urgent mental conditioning.
With the Asian Games and the LA Olympics on the horizon, India's archery system must engage in introspection.
Recurve archery remains trapped in a cycle of promise and disappointment, while India's dominance in compound archery is waning. This is concerning given the discipline's planned debut at the LA 2028 Olympics as a mixed team event.
Ironically, South Korea, a recurve powerhouse with 43 Olympic medals, is now also making strides in compound archery. In Antalya, they won silver in the women's team event and bronze in the men's, highlighting their progress. Han Seungyeon, who topped the qualification round, is also positioned to win her first World Cup gold medal.
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