The word ‘world class’ is a term loosely used by sports enthusiasts around the world, especially on social media. Athletes who have barely begun their careers are overhyped by the media and fans alike as the next (insert legendary player here). However, every once in a while a generational athlete rewrites the history books and sets the standards of excellence for generations to come. Without a shadow of a doubt, Deepika Kumari is one such individual who can truly be deemed the best in the world at archery games.
The 27 year old regained the number one position in the global rankings after winning not one, not two but THREE gold medals at the World Cup for the very first time ahead of Elena Osipova and Mackenzie Brown. With this, the archer from Ranchi has won an impressive total of nine gold, twelve silver and seven bronze medals at the World Cup.
Deepika Kumari’s successful World Cup campaign started with a comfortable win over Mexico, where Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari combined with the world number 1 to win the women’s recurve team gold. Deepika also showed her fighting spirit when she teamed up with her husband Atanu Das as the pair overturned a 0-2 deficit to win gold with a score of 5-3 against Netherlands Sjef van den Berg and Gabriela Schloesser. Finally, Deepika blew away 17th ranked Russian Elena Osipova to win her third gold medal.
As India continues its pursuit of winning the first Olympic gold medal, Deepika Kumari will be the only female archer in India’s team full of men at the biggest sporting event in the world. All eyes will be on the world number 1 and it would not be a far fetched possibility for the archer from Ranchi to fulfill her lifelong dream and bring home gold from Tokyo.
