Ace Indian archer Deepika Kumar shrugged off her poor run of form by clinching gold medal in the women's recurve event at the World Cup (Stage III) after a gap of six years beating Germany's Michelle Kroppen 7-3 to qualify for the circuit Final, later this year.
Finally! That's what I said when I won this gold medal, said Deepika, who's last victory at a World Cup stage event came six years ago, in Antalya back in 2012.
The Indian archer opened the match with 29 out of a possible 30 points to take a 2-0 lead, before splitting the points with Kroppen in the second.
The German archer, making her individual debut in the finals arena, won the third set and tied the match at 3-3. Deepika then took the fourth and fifth sets with a 29 and a 27, over Michelle's pair of 26s, to win the match, 7-3.
I was repeating to myself, just do it the best, this is your time; just enjoy your game and forget about winning or losing and have fun', Deepika told the official website of World Archery federation.
Do I feel relieved to qualify? Yes and no. I'm not expecting anything, at the moment I'm just enjoying my game, I want to enjoy my game, said Deepika, who has often failed to live up to expectations at the biggest stage like the Olympics.
Tan Ya-Ting of Chinese Taipei beat Gabriela Bayardo of the Netherlands in four sets, 7-1, to the recurve women's bronze medal.
In the medal standings, India finished fourth behind USA, Colombia and Chinese Taipei with a gold, silver and bronze each in the penultimate stage of the World Cup.
Deepika however returned empty-handed in the recurve mixed pair section alongside Atanu Das, where they lost to Chinese Taipei pair of Tang Chih-Chun and Tan Ya-Ting 4-5 in the shoot-off.
Locked 37-all after set four, the pair of Deepika and Atanu Das shot an identical 8s, while their opponents sealed the issue with a nine and eight.
India's Asian Games-bound archery squad will now head off to Berlin for the fourth World Cup from July 16-22 ahead of the Indonesia Asian Games in August-September.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)