Deepika Kumari’s 18th medal, Parth Sulankhe’s maiden bronze for India
Nagpur:Parth Salunkhe and Deepika Kumari gave recurve archers a reason to cheer when the Satara youngster and seasoned campaigner clinched bronze medals as India concluded the Shanghai World Cup Stage 2 with their heads held high on Sunday.While Deepika secured her 18th individual World Cup medal, 21-year-old Parth pocketed his maiden bronze. Despite the Korean archers dominating the recurve event by winning all five gold medals, the Indian contingent in Shanghai enjoyed a successful campaign with a seven-medal haul, largely due to their compound team’s achievements.India’s final day began disappointingly when Deepika Kumari lost to Korea’s 21-year-old Olympic champion Lim Sihyeon 1-7 in the women’s recurve individual semifinal.Despite losing tamely, India’s four-time Olympian Deepika maintained composure and regained form in the bronze playoff against Korea’s Kang Chaeyoung. The 30-year-old Deepika secured a 7-3 victory over former world champion Kang, earning her 18th individual World Cup podium finish.In the men’s individual semifinals, there was a nervous start for the Satara youngster Parth Salunkhe. Facing Korean top-seeded star and defending Olympic champion Kim Woojin, the 21-year-old and 152nd-ranked Parth took time to settle into his groove. After a poor start where Parth lost the two opening sets 26-27 and 28-30, the Satara boy regained his momentum to win the third set 28-27, bringing the lead down to 2-4. Parth stunned the multiple Olympic medallist to seal the fourth set 29-28 and bring parity in the semifinal at 4-4. In the fifth and final set, Parth failed to maintain his cool and lost 25-28, going down fighting 4-6.Parth appeared composed in the bronze medal match where he prevailed over Baptiste Addis of France 6-4. After winning the first set 30-28, Parth and Addis had a tie at 28-28 and 25-25 in the second and third sets respectively. The higher-ranked Frenchman won the fourth set 30-27 to level the scores. In the fifth and deciding set, Parth shot two 10s to get the better of Addis 29-28, bagging his maiden bronze medal.
