Before the semi-final against Korea at the Archery World Cup Stage 2 in Shanghai, Indian coach Prafull Dange kept his message simple. “Khud ko challenge kar ke fight karo. Korea ya kuch aur sochoge toh dikat ho jayegi (You have to challenge yourself to fight. If you think about Korea or other things, there will be difficulty),” he told Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Kumkum Mohod.
Moments later, the Indian trio beat Korea 5-1 to enter the final — only the fourth time in history that an Indian recurve women’s team has defeated Korea, a nation that has won ten Olympic titles in the women’s team event.
The previous three victories tell the rarity of the achievement: the Indian team of Deepika, Bombayla Devi and Rimil Buriuly won gold at the Asian Grand Prix defeating Korea; Kumari, Devi and Chekroyolu Swuro edged out Korea in the World Championship semi-finals; and Devi, Kumari and Buriuly beat Korea in the World Championship final.
India arrived in Shanghai with something to prove. At the Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Mexico, the Indian women’s trio of Kumari, Mohod and Simranjeet Kaur had suffered a 5-4 loss to Turkey in the quarter-finals. In Shanghai, Kumari, Bhakat and Mohod were ranked fourth after qualification with a combined score of 1954, with Korea topping the standings at 2014.
The Indian team worked through the draw methodically — a 6-2 win over Uzbekistan in the first round, then a nervy 5-4 shoot-off victory over Vietnam (28-25) to reach the semi-finals.
Korea arrived without their two biggest names. Tokyo Olympics champion An San had finished fifth in the trials and did not travel; Paris Olympics triple gold medallist and Asian Games champion Lim Sihyeon had bowed out in earlier rounds. But the Korean trio of world number one and Paris Olympics team champion Kang Chaeyoung, 2023 youth world champion Oh Yejin and rookie Lee Yunjin was formidable enough.
India took the first set 58-55, with Kumari hitting two tens — including an inner ten — and Bhakat and Mohod contributing a ten and nine each. The second set ended in a tie at 56-56, splitting the points and giving India a 3-1 lead overall. Despite an eight from one of the archers mid-set, the trio held their composure to stay level. India then sealed the match by winning the third set 58-56, claiming a 5-1 victory and a place in the final.
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“Post the semi-final, we only talked that we should see defeating the Korean team as part of the game. The good thing was that our team maintained consistency and did not focus on who they were facing. Of course, there is some pressure when one faces the Koreans but all three archers focused on the process and showed good coordination. The talk was of having a champion mindset and that’s what resulted in the trio shooting with the process and emerging winners,” said Dange.
Conditions had made qualification difficult. The arena sits inside an athletics stadium and the winds were swirling. Where Korea shot quickly, India took time — adjusting aim, working through the gusts. Dange’s post-qualification message was to trust the process rather than over-focus on alignment. “The way Kumkum shot without any pressure was also commendable. It was her second World Cup and yes sometimes she can be a little impatient, but today she showed good composure,” he said.
The win matters beyond Shanghai. With the LA Olympics reducing individual recurve spots while expanding team events — and team qualification now carrying individual spots with it — this Olympic cycle places greater weight on team performance than any before it. In Tokyo, only Deepika had qualified individually; there was no Indian women’s team. At the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, India won bronze — Bhakat, Simranjeet Kaur and Bhajan Kaur finishing behind Korea, who took gold with An San, Choi Mi-sun and Lim Sihyeon. At Paris, the team of Deepika, Bhajan Kaur and Bhakat lost the quarter-final 0-6 to the Netherlands.
Deepika’s personal coach, 2010 Commonwealth Games champion Banerjee, says the work since Mexico has been deliberate. “Post the Mexico World Cup, Deepika and I had a talk about how maintaining form is the key ahead of the Asian Games trials and Asian Games. We worked on her bow draw position as well, focusing on shooting in individual and team formats,” he said.
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“A top three spot in next year’s World Championships will be the key for the Indian women’s team to qualify for LA Olympics and seal the individual spots too.”
