Deepika Kumari and Abhishek Verma are among the qualifiers for the 2018 Archery World Cup final. Kumari and Verma were among the top seven in their respective categories after four stages of the World Cup and will be at the season-ender in Samsun, Turkey.
Kumari, the 24-year-old recurve archer from Jamshedpur, finished 7th in the women’s recurve division, tallying up 193.5 points from her four World Cup stage appearances this year. She won the gold at the last stage in Salt Lake City, her first World Cup group stage victory in six years, finishing sixth in Berlin, eighth in Antalya and ninth in Shanghai.
She finished eighth at last year’s final in Rome, but has four silver medals to her name – at Mexico City in 2015, where she lost to Choi Mi-Sun of South Korea and at Paris in 2013, Tokyo in 2012 and Istanbul in 2011. This will be her seventh World Cup final appearance. Kumari finished fifth at her debut finals at Edinburgh in 2010.
Joining her will be compound archer Abhishek Verma. Despite not winning a stage, Verma was consistent throughout the season, finishing second at Salt Lake City, sixth at Mexico City and Berlin and fifth at Antalya in the qualification round. He has won a bronze medal at four World Cups this year, however, in the mixed team event alongside Jyothi Surekha Vennam.
This will be the 29-year-old’s second final after grabbing a silver medal at Mexico City in 2015, losing a tight-fought final 143-145 to Turkey’s Demir Elmaagacli. On that occasion, Verma grabbed India’s first World Cup final medal in the compound section.
Verma also won the team gold and the individual silver medals at the Asian Games in 2014.