Three-time Olympian Deepika Kumari made a triumphant return to international competitions, securing a gold medal in the women's individual recurve category during the Asia Cup 2024 archery stage one tournament at Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday.
India finished the competition with 14 medals, including nine gold, four silver and one bronze, as per Olympics.com. Kumari was playing in her first international event since the Paris Archery World Cup held in June 2022, and this time, she beat Simranjeet Kaur 6-2 in an all-Indian title clash to win the individual recurve title. Deepika became a mother back in December 2022 and made her return to the game with a gold medal in the National Games in Goa last year and also topped the national selection trials held in Kolkata last month, making it back to Team India. Also, Dhiraj Bommadevara defeated his senior and Olympian Tarundeep Rai 7-3 to clinch the men's recurve archery title. India topped the podium in all individual competitions, secured top spots in men's and women's compound archery events. Parneet Kaur defeated Iran's Fatemeh Hemmati 138-135 for the women's compound archery gold medal match while Prathamesh Jawkar beat compatriot Kushal Dalal 146-144 for the men's title. Simranjeet Kaur, Deepika Kumari and Bhajan Kaur beat Uzbekistan by 5-4 in a hard-fought game via shootout to win the women's team recurve archery title. The men's recurve archery title was captured by Dhiraj Bommadevara, Pravin Ramesh Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai as they beat Bangladesh 6-2. The mixed team recurve title was also secured by India as Dhiraj and Simranjeet joined forces to beat Bangladesh 6-0 in the title clash. Asia Cup 2024 archery: Indian medal winners-Prathamesh Jawkar, Priyansh and Kushal Dalal - gold medal (men's compound team)-Prathamesh Jawkar - gold medal (men's compound individual)-Kushal Dalal - silver medal (men's compound team)-Aditi Swami, Priya Gurjar and Parneet Kaur - silver medal (women's compound team)-Parneet Kaur - gold medal (women's compound individual)-Aditi Swami - bronze medal (women's compound individual)-Prathamesh Jawkar and Aditi Swami - gold medal (compound mixed team)-Dhiraj Bommadevara, Pravin Ramesh Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai - gold medal (men's recurve team)-Dhiraj Bommadevara - gold medal (men's recurve individual)-Tarundeep Rai - silver medal (men's recurve individual)-Simranjeet Kaur, Deepika Kumari and Bhajan Kaur - gold medal (women's recurve team)-Deepika Kumari - gold medal (women's recurve individual)-Simranjeet Kaur - silver medal (women's recurve individual)-Simranjeet Kaur and Dhiraj Bommadevara - gold medal (recurve mixed team). (ANI)
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