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The Indian archer Deepika Kumari, a three-time Olympian, toppled the selection trials for women's recurve archery on Sunday, held to shortlist the Indian team which will be sent for Archery World Cups and zeroing down on 2024 Paris Olympics provisional squad.
The trials had 16 archers, eight each in recurve and compound archery events and they were included in the team for the first two stages of Archery World Cup 2024. The eight-member recurve archery squad also doubles up as the 2024 Paris Olympics provisional squad, as per Olympics.com. Archery World Cup's first stage will be held from April 23 to 28 in Shangai while South Korea will be hosting the second leg from May 21 to 26. Deepika has enjoyed a great run in archery ever since her comeback from maternity break this year. She finished ahead of Asian Games bronze medalists from last year, Bhajan Kaur and Ankita Bhakat. Komalika Bari has also found her place in the World Cup squad. Deepika also topped the first selection trials in Kolkata back in January which helped her reach in the squad for Asia Cup Baghdad stage one. Playing in her first international event since embracing motherhood back in 2022, she bagged gold medals in individual and team competitions in Baghdad. Deepika had also aced the first selection trials in Kolkata in January to make the cut for stage 1 of the Asia Cup in Baghdad. Competing in her first international event since becoming a mother in 2022, Deepika returned with gold medals in the individual as well as team events. Dhiraj Bommadevara, who has the only archery Paris 2024 quota for India so far, topped the charts in the men's recurve competition. The men's squad also consists of Olympian Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav and Mrinal Chauhan. Compound archery, a non-Olympic category, saw the current world champion Aditi Swami and senior players Jyoti Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma book their places in the squad. Based on the performances in the first two stages of the WC, the team for the third stage taking place from June 18 to 23 in Antalya will be selected. The third stage of the World Cup will be the final qualification event for recurve archers ahead of the Olympics, taking place from July-August this year. Indian squad for Archery World Cup Stage 1 and 2Men's compound: Prathamesh Fuge, Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan, Priyansh Women's compound: Jyoti Surekha Vennam, Aditi Gopichand Swami, Parneet Kaur, Parneet Kaur Men's recurve: Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav, Mrinal Chauhan Women's recurve: Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur, Ankita Bhakat, Komalika Bari. (ANI)
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