Deepika Kumari, the top archer from India, lost to Li Jiaman of China 0–6 in the World Cup Final, earning her fifth silver medal. After taking a three-year break after the birth of her daughter, Deepika returned and easily advanced to the finals, where she was seeded third.

China’s Li Jiaman defeated India’s top recurve archer Deepika Kumari 0–6 in the summit match, but Kumari went on to win her fifth silver medal in the World Cup Final.

Four-time Olympian Deepika was seeded third in the eight-archer field and made her World Cup Final comeback three years after giving birth to her baby in December 2022.

She breezed into the semifinals, but she likely felt the strain of playing for a gold medal against fourth-seeded Li Jiaman, an Olympic silver medallist for her team in Paris.

Deepika made her ninth appearance at the World Cup Final, where she also won a bronze medal.

Dola Banerjee is the only Indian archer to have won a gold in the World Cup Final, having topped the podium in Dubai 2007.

In the men’s recurve section, Dhiraj Bommadevara, despite leading 4-2, could not hold off the challenge from South Korea’s Paris Olympics bronze medallist, Lee Woo Seok in the opening round and made an early exit .

The pressure once again seemed to affect the Indian archers, who have often struggled in high-stakes matches.

The five-member Indian contingent, comprising three compound and two recurve archers, thus concluded their season-ending World Cup Final campaign with just one medal.

After a stellar semifinal win against Mexico’s Alejandra Valencia, Deepika couldn’t maintain momentum.