I want to win gold by beating Olympic Champion, says Deepika

Mexico City 2015 marks Deepika Kumari’s fifth Archery World Cup Final appearance. She picked up three silver medals at the event from 2011 to 2013, and had a fifth place finish at Edinburgh 2010, her World Cup Final debut.

The experience in ’10, said Deepika, was a chance to understand the system and get familiarised with the atmosphere.

At Instanbul 2011, Tokyo 2012 and Paris 2013, she used what she learned that first year and won a trio of silver medals. Each time, she lost the final to an Asian archer.

“Three silver medals is not enough for me,” she exclaimed. “I need gold! It’s been eluding me and I don’t know why.”

Out of all her World Cup Final matches, the one Deepika has stuck in her mind is the Tokyo 2012 gold medal match, which she lost to a recently-crowned Olympic Champion. That champion was Ki Bo Bae, and their match – now ingrained in Deepika’s mind – has become the motivation for success in Mexico City.

She’s even been replaying – or, better, re-shooting – it in her mind.

“Ki Bo Bae is the best recurve archer in the world,” said Deepika. “She has had a really good season and she seems pretty confident in her shooting. If I can beat her to take revenge from three years ago in Tokyo, it would be simply great!”

Deepika, though, has something on her mind. She let slip that she had some kind of small injury or strain.

“I will try to be calm, not worry about it and just enjoy my shooting,” she said, shrugging when pressed for more information. The 21-year-old, who shot to fame when she won Commonwealth Games gold in 2010, would not be more specific.

Deepika’s first match at the Mexico City 2015 Archery World Cup Final is against Kawanaka Kaori from Japan. Kaori was team silver medallist at the London 2012 Olympic Games.