Famed Indian archer Deepika Kumari, a multiple World Cup medallist, added another medal to her cabinet by winning a silver in the women’s recurve event at the Archery World Cup Final in Mexico on Sunday. Deepika claimed her fifth silver medal in the World Cup final, losing 0-6 to China’s Li Jiaman in the final match. To date, Dola Banerjee remains the only Indian archer to win a gold medal at the World Cup Final.
This might come as good news for Indian archery, as these tournaments show us promising players aiming for Olympic glory. The next Olympics is coming in 2028, which will happen in America’s Los Angeles. Most athletes strive to maintain momentum from these tournaments to achieve success and boost their confidence. However, we must understand that, despite these achievements, we should not rely solely on Deepika Kumari for an Olympic medal in the future, just based on her individual performances in World Cups and World Championships.
Ongoing disappointment in the Indian Archery
The celebrated Indian archer, who still has no Olympic medal to her name, has consistently disappointed fans at the grand events. The blow for Deepika is continuing from 2012 to 2024, choking on crucial moments. It’s high time that India should not focus on Deepika Kumari and find new young talent who can perform well on the global stage and not falter when it is most required.
Past performances and missed opportunities
There have been instances when Deepika entered the Olympics after winning silver in world championships, only to lose in the initial rounds of the Olympics. For instance, in 2012, Deepika Kumari won the silver medal at the 2011 Archery World Championships, and then in May 2012, she won her first World Cup individual stage recurve gold medal at Antalya, Turkey. She entered her first Olympics in 2012 in London as the World Cup champion and a silver medalist. Unfortunately, Deepika Kumari lost against Amy Oliver of Great Britain in the opening round.
A similar thing occurred in Rio 2016, where she won the World Championships in 2015 in Copenhagen and earned silver in World Cups throughout the year. In the individual event in Rio, she won the initial two rounds but later lost to Taipei’s Tan Ya-ting with a score of 0-6 in the round of 16.
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Recent Olympics: The bad run continues
Deepika Kumari faced disappointment again in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She entered the Games as the world number one but unfortunately could not secure a medal, crashing out in the quarter-finals. The same pattern repeated in the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she once again exited in the quarter-finals.
Time for new players to step-up
The former World No. 1 Deepika Kumari is a veteran in the sport. However, the reality is that while she has many years of experience, her performances have not reflected that. She has consistently underperformed over the years, with her last medal in the World Championships coming in 2015. Since then, she has primarily collected medals in the Archery World Cup, which occurs four times a year, where not all ace archers participate. This series of performances and disappointments should urge the Indian team to seek out more young talent who can perform and gain global exposure.
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