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          Indian archers beat reigning Olympic champions South Korea: what does it mean?

          Dhiraj Bommadevara. Dean Alberga/Handout/World Archery Federation via Getty Images
          • Anirudh Menon
          Apr 29, 2024, 09:16 AM

          India beat reigning Olympic champions and the sport's dominant force South Korea in the men's team recurve final of the 2024 Archery World Cup stage 1 in Shanghai. This was India's first gold in the event at a World Cup stage in 14 years.

          With less than three months to go before the Paris Olympics, what does this result mean?

          Was South Korea at full strength?

          More or less. The depth of South Korea's archery means we cannot be sure this is the team they will take to Paris but merely listing out their names and achievements will give you a good indication of just how good they are:

          • Kim Je-deok, nicknamed 'archery genius' back home, is a 20-year-old sensation who was part of the gold medal-winning men's and mixed teams at the Tokyo Olympics. He's also already won two team golds at the World Championships, and an Hangzhou Asian Games team gold.

          • Kim Woo-jin, 31, was also part of the Tokyo men's gold-winning team, as well as the Rio Games gold-winning team. Across individual and team events he also has won nine World Championships golds, eight World Cup finals golds, and three Asian Games golds.

          • Lee Woo-seok, 27, was the least pedigreed member of the team but that's not saying much - he was part of the Hangzhou Asiad winning teams (men and mixed) and has two World Championship team golds.

          Je-deok and Woo-jin also won individual silver and bronze at this World Cup stage 1.

          The Indian team of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai won it comprehensively too, taking the final 5-1. That was the same score they beat Italy and Spain with, in the semifinals and quarterfinals respectively. In fact, their toughest challenge came in their first match, when they beat Indonesia 5-3.

          What does this mean for the Olympics?

          On the face of it, nothing. There are no qualification points here, but it will boost India's ranking points. The latter bit will come in handy if India are not able to make it through to Paris 2024 via the final Olympic qualifier (scheduled in June).

          Now, results from World Archery stages rarely affect the South Korean team at the Games itself. Since the event was introduced in 1988, South Korea have won gold in six of the nine Games. They also won silver in 1996 and bronze in 2012. This is their event, and if India qualify, they would very likely be faced with a tougher prospect in case the matchup is repeated.

          The win over such a strong team, though, will give India a big boost of confidence heading into the last qualifier. As Rai said after the match, "[we are] happy to have beaten a team comprising World and Olympic champions. We hope to carry this forward."

          How did the other Indians fare?

          In recurve, Deepika Kumari won silver -- in the middle of a comeback after missing out on the Asian Games team, Deepika showed fine form in Shanghai.

          The mixed team of Dhiraj and Ankita Bhakat also won bronze. Compound was a different matter altogether, though, as India swept golds in four of the five events. Jyothi Vennam won gold in the women's individual; Parneet Kaur, Aditi Swami and Jyoti won gold in the women's team; Abhishek Verma and Jyothi won gold in the mixed team. The men's team of Prathamesh Fuge, Priyansh and Abhishek won gold too while Priyansh won silver in the men's individual event. However, compound archery is not part of the Olympics.

          Oh, also, why is it called World Cup stage 1?

          World Archery conducts three stages of the World Cup - this year at Shanghai, Yecheon (South Korea) and Antalya (Turkey) - before it culminates in the World Cup final (in Tlaxcala, Mexico).