Paris: The Indian recurve women’s team defeated Mexico 5-1 to clinch the gold medal in the archery World Cup Stage 3 here Sunday. The Paris World Cup is the last global competition ahead of the July 23-August 8 Tokyo Olympic Games.
On their way to the final, India beat France 6-2 in the semi-finals and blanked Turkey 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
Last weekend, the Indian women recurve archery failed to live up to expectations and missed the women’s team quota place for the Olympics. India lost 0-6 to Colombia in the first match to crash out of the Olympic qualification tournament.
The team comprising Deepika Kumari, Komalika Bari, and Ankita Bhakat lost their first match to Colombia to bow out of the Olympic qualification. It was the last opportunity for the Indian archers to win the women’s team quota place for the Olympic Games.
Mexico, the USA and Italy were the three top teams and they won the recurve women’s team quota places for the Olympic Games.
In the 2019 Olympic qualification cycle, Deepika had qualified in an individual event for the Tokyo Olympics while men’s recurve team of Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav had won team quota place in the men’s category during the 2019 World Championships in The Netherlands.