Archery World Cup: Dhiraj Bommadevara defeats World No 4 Mauro Nespoli to claim bronze

India's Dhiraj Bommadevara produced a fine performance to defeat Italy's Mauro Nespoli, a multiple-time Olympic medal winner, to clinch a bronze medal at the Archery World Cup stage three in Antalya on Sunday. The 22-year-old Bommadevara outplayed Nespoli 7-3 in a playoff match. Dhiraj, who obtained a Paris 2024 Olympics quota, raced to a 4-0 lead and fended off a late resurgence from the multiple-time Olympic medallist to pocket the game in five sets.

Before the bronze medal, Bommadevara suffered a defeat against Korea's Kim Woojin 6-2 in the semi-finals. Earlier, the Indian mixed recurve team, consisting of Bhajan Kaur and Dhiraj Bommadevara, defeated the Mexico duo of Alejandra Valencia and Matias Grande by 5-3 in the bronze medal match. Recurve archery is an Olympic event as well.

On the other hand, Ankita Bhakat lost the bronze medal match against Alejandra Valencia 7-3 following a defeat against China's Yang Xiaolei 6-2 in the semi-finals. The Indian women's compound team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Parneet Kaur and Aditi Gopichand Swami secured a gold medal at the ongoing Archery World Cup stage three being held in Antalya, Turkiye on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the top three teams obtained Paris 2024 Olympic quotas in the men's recurve team event. With bronze two medal victories on Sunday, India concluded the Antalya leg of the World Cup with four medals.

India was the top-most team in stage one of the competition held in Shanghai, securing eight medals, including five gold medals, two silver and one bronze. In the second stage of the competition at Yecheon, India secured two medals, including a gold by the women's compound team and a silver by the mixed compound team. The World Cup stage three will be the final event for recurve archers before the qualifying period for the Paris 2024 Olympics ends. Stage three will also be the final World Cup stage of 2024 before the World Cup final to be held in Mexico in October.