India’s Dhiraj Bommadevara had a remarkable day at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya, Turkiye. The 24-year-old clinched his first individual recurve gold medal by defeating South Korea’s Lee Woo-seok 7-3 in the final. This victory marked the biggest title of his career and ended India’s five-year drought in the men’s individual recurve category.
Dhiraj’s journey to gold was challenging, with a comeback victory in the semi-finals against Germany’s Moritz Wieser. He then outperformed Lee Woo-seok, an Olympic medallist, in the final to secure the top spot on the podium. Additionally, Dhiraj, along with 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod, claimed the mixed team gold medal by defeating top-seeded South Koreans Oh Yejin and Kim Je-deok 5-1 in the final.
This win was historic as Dhiraj became the first Indian to win a World Cup gold in the men’s individual recurve event since 2021. The duo of Dhiraj and Kumkum joined a select group of Indian mixed recurve pairs to achieve this feat, showcasing India’s resurgence in recurve archery on the global stage.
