Dhiraj Bommadevara becomes first Indian male recurve archer to win World Cup final gold medal in shoot-off thriller

Top-ranked Indian recurve archer Dhiraj Bommadevara created history on Sunday by becoming the first Indian male recurve archer to win gold at the Archery World Cup Final, beating Japan's Nakanishi Junya in a shoot-off in Saltillo, Mexico.After finishing without a medal in the 2023 and 2024 editions, the 25-year-old Army man from Vijayawada produced his best run at the World Cup Final. He reached the final after wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals before defeating world No. 20 Junya 6-5 (28-28, 28-29, 29-28, 28-30, 28-27). With the match tied 5-5 after five sets, Dhiraj won the shoot-off 10-9.With the victory, Dhiraj became the first Indian male recurve archer to win gold at the World Cup Final. He also ended a 16-year wait for an Indian male recurve archer to win a medal at the event. Jayanta Talukdar was the last Indian man to finish on the podium, winning bronze in Edinburgh in 2010.Dola Banerjee remains the only other Indian to have won World Cup Final gold, claiming the women's individual title in Dubai in 2007. No Indian had won gold at the World Cup Final since then.Deepika Kumari, however, remains India's most successful archer at the World Cup Final with five silver medals and one bronze from eight appearances.Dhiraj will now head to Japan for the Asian Games, where he will lead India's recurve campaign. At the Hangzhou Asian Games, he was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the individual event but won a team silver medal.In the gold medal match, Dhiraj twice trailed Junya before fighting back. The Japanese archer, who had knocked out Tokyo Olympics champion Mete Gazoz in the semifinal, dropped only 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 5-3 ahead and needed only a tied fifth set to win the gold.The Indian kept his composure in the deciding set, scoring 28 while Junya managed 27, forcing a shoot-off. Dhiraj then hit a perfect 10, while Junya scored 9, sealing the biggest title of his career.Earlier, Dhiraj beat Rio Olympics silver medallist Jean-Charles Valladont of France 7-1 (28-25, 28-28, 29-24, 29-28) in the semifinal without losing a set.He had opened his campaign with a 7-1 win over Turkey's Berkim Tumer in the quarterfinals (28-25, 29-26, 28-28). Dhiraj dropped only two points with his first three arrows and took a 4-0 lead after the second set before a tied third set confirmed his place in the semifinals.This was Dhiraj's second semifinal appearance at the World Cup Final. On his debut in Hermosillo in 2023, he had reached the semifinals before losing the bronze-medal playoff.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.