Dhiraj Bommadevara becomes first Indian archer to win World Cup final gold medal in shootout thriller

Dhiraj Bommadevara. (Photo File) India’s top-ranked archer Dhiraj Bommadevara on Sunday made history by becoming the first Indian archer to win gold in an Archery World Cup final, defeating Japan’s Nakanishi Junya in a shootout in Saltillo, Mexico.After going medal-less in 2023 and 2024, the 25-year-old army man from Vijayawada produced his best run in the World Cup finals. He reached the final after wins in the quarter-finals and semi-finals before beating world No. 20 Junya 6-5 (28-28, 28-29, 29-28, 28-30, 28-27). With the score tied at 5:5 after five sets, Dhiraj won the shootout 10:9.The win made Dhiraj the first Indian archer to win gold in a World Cup final. It also ended a 16-year wait for an Indian men’s recurve archer to win a medal at the event. Jayanta Talukdar was the last Indian to finish on the podium when he won bronze in Edinburgh in 2010.Dola Banerjee remains the only other Indian to have won gold from a World Cup final when she won the women’s individual title in Dubai in 2007. Since then, no Indian woman has won gold in a World Cup final.However, Deepika Kumari remains India’s most successful archer in World Cup finals with five silver medals and one bronze from eight appearances.Dhiraj will now head to Japan for the Asian Games to lead India’s recurve campaign. At the Asian Games in Hangzhou, he was eliminated in the individual quarterfinals, but won the team silver medal.In the gold medal match, Dhiraj twice pulled Junya back before the fight. The Japanese archer, who knocked out Tokyo Olympic champion Mete Gazoz in the semi-finals, dropped just three points from his first six arrows to take a 3-1 lead.Dhiraj responded with a score of 29 in the third set to level the match at 3-3. Junya then shot a perfect three-arrow set in the fourth to move ahead 5-3 and needed only a close fifth set to claim the gold.The Indian kept his composure in the deciding set, scoring 28 while Junya managed 27 to force a shootout. Dhiraj then hit a perfect 10 while Junya scored 9 to seal the biggest title of his career.Dhiraj had earlier beaten Rio Olympic silver medalist Jean-Charles Valladont of France 7-1 (28-25, 28-28, 29-24, 29-28) in the semifinals without dropping a set.He started his campaign with a 7-1 win over Berki Tumer of Turkey in the quarterfinals (28-25, 29-26, 28-28). Dhiraj dropped just two points with his first three arrows to take a 4-0 lead after the second set before a tied third set confirmed his place in the semi-finals.This was Dhiraj’s second semi-final appearance at a World Cup final. In his debut at Hermosillo in 2023, he reached the semifinals before losing in the playoff for bronze.