Veteran Indian archer Deepika Kumari put the ranking round disappointment behind her to storm into the semi-finals of the 2025 Asian Archery Championships in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Tuesday.
Deepika took down South Korea’s Lee Gahyun 7-3 in a dominating fashion in the quarter-finals as three Indians made it to the women’s recurve semi-finals.
Sangeeta, with a 7-1 win over Iran’s Reyhane Zare, joined Deepika in the semi-finals along with Ankita Bhakat, who beat Jang Minhee of South Korea 6-4.
The triple victories in women’s recurve quarters mean that India are assured of at least two medals in the discipline. South Korea’s Nam Suhyeon will be the other semi-finalist.
Meanwhile, in women’s compound archery, the experienced Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Prithika Pradeep also made semi-finals.
While Jyothi beat Oh Yoohyun of South Korea 147-145 in the quarters, Prithika got the better off fellow Indian Chikitha Taniparthi 148-146.
Elsewhere in men’s recurve, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Rahul reached the semi-finals.
Much like Deepika, Dhiraj put the sorry show in the ranking rounds behind him to reach the final four. He beat Uzbekistan’s Amirkhon Sadikov in a shoot-off.
Both the archers shot a ten in he shoot-off, but Dhiraj advanced as his arrow landed closer to the centre of the target.
On the other hand, Rahul took down Chinese Taipei’s Lin Zih-Siang 6-2 to advance to the semi-finals.
The picture, however, was not all rosy in men’s compound as both Sahil Jadhav and Prathamesh Fuge lost their respective quarter-finals to crash out of contention.
The Indian men’s compound team comprising of Jadhav, Fuge, and the experienced Abhishek Verma reached the final.
The trio beat Thailand in a shoot-off after both teams finished level at 235-235 in the semi-finals.
The Indian women’s recurve team of Sangeeta, Ankita, and Anshika Kumari, meanwhile, crashed out in the quarter-finals following a 4-5 loss to Uzbekistan.
