India women stun hosts China to win World Cup recurve team gold

It’s just the kind of external variable that has impacted Indian archers in big events in the past, largely negatively. And it’s something the recurve women’s team had to front up with again on Sunday in a high-pressure World Cup Stage 2 final inside Shanghai’s Yuanshen Stadium.

“More than 200 people had packed the arena, and almost everyone was cheering loudly for their team,” Prafull Dange, coach of the women’s team at this event, told HT from Shanghai. “I just told our players to close the ears, shut out the noise, and focus on shooting the arrows.”

The trio of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Kumkum Mohod did that well enough and long enough to earn a World Cup gold. The Indians held their nerve and edged past China’s Zhu Jingyi, Huang Yuwei and Yu Qi 5-4 in a shoot-off (28-26) from being all square at 4-4 after four sets.