Sidelined after the Tokyo Olympics debacle, star Indian archer Deepika Kumari is all set to make a India comeback in the upcoming Stage 3 of the World Cup beginning in Paris on Tuesday. Exactly a year after she won an individual gold in the same tournament last year, the 28-year-old world number three will look to redeem herself after failing to win a medal at the Tokyo Games. That the Olympics is slated in two years at the same venue will be an added motivation for Deepika, who also has won a World Cup Final silver medal in 2013.
Having returned empty-handed from her third Olympics campaign last year, Deepika saw a slump in form along with her husband and country’s top male archer Atanu Das and failed to make the Indian team.
The duo also could not qualify for the team for the Asian Games which was later postponed as the Archery Association of India conducted a fresh trial of the top-eight archers for the Stage 3 of the World Cup.
Earlier the same squad was to compete in both the World Cup Stage 3 and the Asian Games but after the postponement Deepika and Pravin Jadhav, who were in the top-8 of the earlier conducted trial, got a fresh opportunity and made the cut.
Das, however, missed out having finished outside top-8 in the earlier conducted trial.
Deepika made the cut at the expense of Komalika Bari, while her Tokyo Olympic mixed team partner Jadhav ousted Sachin Gupta to complete the World Cup Stage 3 lineup.
Deepika was last seen in action for India in the Yankton World Cup Final in September 2021 where she finished fourth.
The compound section also saw the return of World Championships silver medalist Jyothi Surekha Vennam who too had failed to make the Asian Cup contingent earlier this year.
World number 3 Jyothi last competed at Dhaka Asian Championships in November last year where she won an individual gold. She returned in place of Raginee Makoo.
Sangampreet Bisla too made a comeback ousting veteran Rajat Chauhan in the compound section.
India Team: Recurve Men: Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar, Pravin Jadhav and Neeraj Chauhan.
Recurve Women: Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, Ridhi Phor and Simranjeet Kaur.
Promoted
Compound Men: Abhishek Verma, Aman Saini, Mohan Bhardwaj and Sangampreet Bisla.
Compound Women: Jyothi Surekha Venna, Priya Gurjar, Avneet Kaur and Muskan Kirar.
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