Shanghai, May 11 (UNI) Olympian Deepika Kumari and emerging archer Parth Salunkhe secured bronze medals in the individual recurve events as India concluded their campaign with seven medals at the Archery World Cup 2025 here.
Deepika, seeded 12th, defeated South Korea’s Olympic gold medallist Kang Chae-young 7-3 in the women's individual recurve bronze medal match on Sunday. The victory marked Deepika's 37th World Cup medal, reinforcing her status as one of India’s most accomplished archers.
The 29-year-old had earlier overcome Paris 2024 silver medallist Li Jiaman of China 6-2 in quarterfinals before losing 7-1 to reigning Olympic champion Lim Sihyeon of South Korea in the semis.
In the men's recurve category, 60th seed Parth Salunkhe produced a series of stunning performances to clinch his bronze medal. He overcame French archer Baptiste Addis, a Paris 2024 team silver medallist, 6-4 in the third-place match.
Salunkhe had earlier shocked Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Mete Gazoz in a shootoff and outclassed South Korea’s Kim Je Deok — a triple Olympic gold medallist — 6-2 in the quarterfinals. His run ended in the semi-finals with a narrow 6-4 loss to South Korean Olympic champion Kim Woojin.
India’s recurve teams, including the mixed pair of Deepika and Dhiraj Bommadevara, the men’s trio of Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das and Dhiraj, and the women’s team of Deepika, Ankita Bhakat and Anshika Kumari, missed out on podium finishes.
The compound archers, however, delivered a strong showing with five medals. Madhura Dhamangaonkar won gold in women’s individual compound, while the men’s team of Ojas Deotale, Abhishek Verma and Rishabh Yadav secured gold in the team event. The women’s team took silver, and there were bronze medals for the mixed pair (Abhishek-Madhura) and Rishabh in the individual men’s compound.
The third stage of the Archery World Cup will be held in Antalya, Turkiye, from June 3 to 8, followed by the Madrid leg in July and the World Cup Final in Nanjing, China, in October.
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