Dhiraj Bommadevara and Kumkum Anil Mohod Shine at World Cup Stage-3
It took India's top recurve archer Dhiraj Bommadevara 20 years since picking up the bow to win a gold at the World Cup. And when he did, he bagged a double at the World Cup Stage-3 in Antalya on Sunday. The maiden gold for Vijayawada's Dhiraj came when Amravati's 17-year-old Kumkum Anil Mohod delivered a performance beyond her years. The duo of Kumkum and Dhiraj helped India end a four-year wait for the recurve mixed team title.
Pairing up for the first time this season, the 24-year-old Olympian Dhiraj and 17-year-old Kumkum stunned the Korean duo of Kim Je-deok and Oh Ye-jin 5-1 (37-36, 37-36, 39-39) to win India's first World Cup recurve mixed team gold medal since Antalya 2022, when Ridhi and Tarundeep Rai ended on top.
Kumkum Anil Mohod's Meteoric Rise
For Amravati, Kumkum's rise has been meteoric. In just her third World Cup appearance, she now has back-to-back gold medals. Last month in Shanghai, she shot the winning arrow against hosts China to clinch the recurve women's team title, marking her maiden World Cup gold. In Antalya, she showed the same ice-cold composure against the formidable Korean duo.
Kumkum's coach Praful Dange praised the teenager's temperament. "It's a great achievement for Kumkum. She played extremely well and shot 10s whenever needed. She was not bogged down by her Korean opponents. She beat them last month in Shanghai also. Now we are going to focus on the Asian Games later this year and the Los Angeles Olympics two years later, remaining down to earth," Dange said.
Although the more experienced Dhiraj was seen guiding Kumkum throughout the final, he later stated, "I learnt a lot from her fearless way of shooting."
Dhiraj's Individual Gold
Hours later, Dhiraj returned to the arena to tame Germany's Moritz Wieser 6-4 (26-27, 28-28, 28-28, 30-27, 28-23) in the individual semifinal and then South Korea's Lee Woo Seok, the Paris Olympics bronze medallist, 7-3 (30-29, 29-28, 27-27, 27-29, 30-29) in the summit clash.
Dhiraj, who made his World Cup debut in 2021, thus improved upon his 2023, 2024 and 2025 World Cup bronze medal-winning performances and made the season-ending World Cup Finals too.
