Indian Women claim Gold in Recurve Archery at Poland

It is a game with we need to get associated emotionally and historically – all our Ithihasa puranas hail those possessing this skill as great people ~ it is archery….

On July 22nd this year, I posted  ‘Most unlikely that we might be reading of this city founded in 1616 ~ Medellín’ …………  in a very similar fashion we are getting to know about Wroclaw, Poland…  Wroclaw is situated on the banks of river Oder  and is the largest city in western Poland and sixth largest metropolitan area in the country.  Wrocław is the historical capital of Silesia, and today is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. At various times it has been part of the Kingdom of Poland, Bohemia, the Austrian Empire, Prussia, and Germany.

It is not history that we are getting to read but that of history repeating itself as the  Indian women repeated as World Cup champions in an upset over Korea, while the men’s medals were decided in exciting rematches of last year’s Olympic semi-finals.  The Indian trio of Laishram Bombayla Devi, Rimil Buriuly and Deepika Kumari won their second successive gold medal on Sunday [25^th Aug 2013], defeating former world champion Korea 219-215 in the final of the recurve team event of the World Cup archery stage 4 at Wraclow, Poland.

The women’s final featured two teams that have been shooting at an incredible level this season: Antalya winner Korea against Medellin winner India. Korea was by far the strongest team during qualifications and elimination rounds this week. Since 2010, these teams have met seven times, and Korea led the victory count 5-2.  Indian team of Deepila Kumari,Devi Laishram and Rimil Buriuly were pitted against three Olympic gold medalists – Yun Ok-Hee, Ki Bo Bae and Chang Hye Jin.  The wind was a factor in the final, with unusual 7s on both sides. Nothing seemed to be able to separate the two teams, who tied during the first fifteen arrows. The final end would be decisive, when initial 6 by KI Bo Bae - who let down her bow - ended Korea’s hopes. Victory 219-215 and the second straight gold medal for India!

The Danish women were the surprising bronze medallists. Despite having lost all four previous encounters with Russia, they killed the match by taking an 11-point lead in the first end (53-42) after a disastrous performance by Russia under treacherous wind.  The men’s medal matches were rematches of last year’s Olympic semi-finals, and the scores were entirely different this time. For the gold, Korea, the dominant team of the 2013 season with victories in Shanghai and Antalya, faced the United States, who had deprived them of the Olympic final last year. It is the third World Cup victory this year for Korea in as many participations. The silver is an improvement for the United States whose best result so far this season had been a bronze medal in Medellin.

Earlier, the Indian women team won with modest scores against Indonesia, Mexico and Denmark before facing Korea which held a 5-2 lead over India in head-to-head contest since 2010.

To those new – there are many different kinds of bow shapes. However, most fall into three main categories: straight, recurve and compound. Straight and recurve are considered traditional bows. In archery, the shape of the bow is usually taken to be the view from the side.  A recurve bow has tips that curve away from the archer when the bow is strung.  It is a complex format – the World Cup Archery is in 4 stages being held for  recurve and compound divisions.  There were to be 4 legs with the last one just concluding at  Wroclaw, Poland.  The finals will take  place at Paris in Sept 2013.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

26^th Aug 2013.