Bari graduates to under-21 world championship final in Wroclaw

Reigning under-18 world champion Komalika Bari of India has made the gold medal match at the under-21 championships after a come-back semifinal win over new Olympian Casey Kaufhold, 6-4, in Wroclaw.

“I’m very happy! I think I did really well. I’m in the final! I’m so excited about that and I’m going to do my best,” she said.

The 19-year-old, whose breakout performance came when she won her first individual title at the youth worlds in Madrid two years ago, will meet Spain’s Elia Canales in the final.

Having already ascended to the Indian senior team this season – with a trip to the adult world championships coming next month – Bari is quickly becoming a fixture on the international circuit.

She’s one match away from becoming the second recurve woman from India to hold the under-18 and the under-21 world titles, exactly 10 years after Deepika Kumari completed that double in Legnica, which is just one hour away from this venue in Poland.

“I will try to get the gold medal to have a complete collection. Gold and gold. I feel ready to fight for it in the final,” she said.

Komalika’s opponent in the final, Canales, beat Charline Schwarz, 7-3, to secure her spot in the title match.

Schwarz collected an Olympic bronze medal with the German recurve women’s team last month in Tokyo.

“It feels so good. I really wanted to make the individual finals here as it’s been a while since the last time I made it, said Elia. “I’ve worked hard for it and it's now paying off.”

India also has a finalist in the compound women’s under-21 competition.

World debutant Sakshi Chaudhary will shoot for gold against reigning under-21 world champion Amanda Mlinaric of Croatia.

“I have never been on the finals stage before, so I’m very proud to see my country’s flag rising high. I have already secured a medal and I'm happy for it,” said Chaudhary.

“The 15 August is Indian independence day, so it’s kind of a good and happy feeling for me.”

The final will be a tough ask.

She faces a proven, talented and confident opponent in Mlinaric, who was one of the only two archers [Rishabh Yadav was the other] to shoot a perfect match of 150 points during the eliminations.

“I worked hard for this, so it’s not a surprise,” she said.

“I was surprised with my 150 in the quarters. I was very happy about it, so I kind of zoomed out in the semis and the score was a bit lower.”

She survived that semifinal against Estonia’s Meeri-Marita Paas with a 142 and a four-point win. Mlinaric now has a shot at history.

No compound woman has ever won back-to-back under-21 world titles.

(Stephan Hansen was the last archer to successfully defend a world crown in the division, winning in both 2013 and 2015. He also won the senior worlds in 2015.)

“To have a chance to retain my world title feels awesome. I believe it will be a tough fight, I won’t underestimate anyone,” said Mlinaric.

The compound men’s under-21 gold medal match will see Robin Jaatma of Estonia face Italy’s Mateo Mangelle. 

Japan’s Tetsuya Aoshima and Russia’s Stanislav Cheremiskin will contest the recurve men’s under-21 world title. This crown will go to a non-Korean archer for only the second time since 2008.

Seven archers who competed at the recent Olympics came to these championships.

None will shoot in the individual gold medal matches.

Compound finals at the 2021 World Archery Youth Championships in Wroclaw take place on Saturday 14 August and recurve finals one day later on Sunday 15 August.

Under-21 finals

• Recurve men: Stanislav Cheremiskin, Russia (17) versus Tetsuya Aoshima, Japan (6)
• Recurve women: Elia Canales, Spain (4) versus Komalika Bari, India (6)
• Compound men: Robin Jaatma, Estonia (8) versus Mateo Mangelle, Italy (42)
• Compound women: Sakshi Chaudhary, India (8) versus Amanda Mlinaric, Croatia (7)