India stars return empty-handed after shambolic run at Archery World Cup 2025

The Antalya leg, which commenced on Wednesday and will conclude on Sunday, will not feature an Indian archer competing in the singles event for medals, according to Olympics.com.

Four-time Olympian and India's seasoned archer Deepika Kumari, who had clinched bronze in Shanghai, was defeated 6-0 by Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion An San of the Republic of Korea in the second round.

An San later squared off against Simranjeet Kaur in a closely contested quarter-final on Saturday. Simranjeet, ranked 54th after qualification, came close to orchestrating an upset, leading 5-3 at one stage.

However, Simranjeet floundered in the fifth set, which allowed An San to equalise at 5-5. An San went on to dominate and delivered 11 in the shoot-off to win the contest with a 6-5 scoreline.

In the men's category, Parth Salunkhe, bronze medallist in Shanghai, suffered a shock first-round exit in the individual recurve event along with Olympian Tarundeep Rai.

Meanwhile, Dhiraj Bommadevara, India's top qualifier at 13th, allowed a 4-2 lead to slip from his palms in the second round encounter against Chinese Taipei's Tang Chih-Chun by a 6-4 scoreline. Atanu Das was also ousted in the second round, after succumbing to a defeat against Paris 2024 silver medallist Brady Ellison of the USA.

The recurve men's team of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Atanu Das and Parth Salunkhe crashed out following a 5-1 defeat against France in the third-place playoff.

In the compound archery events, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, the reigning Asian Games champion, returned empty-handed after losing to Estonia's Meeri-Marita Paas 152-150 in the second round.

Madhura Dhamangaonkar, who secured a gold medal in women's individual compound in Shanghai last month, suffered a bitter defeat against Mexico's Mariana Bernal 159-152 in the quarter-finals. Reigning women's world champion Aditi Swami was overwhelmed by Mexico's Andrea Becerra 152-147 at the same stage. (ANI)