India's Dhiraj Bommadevara achieved a gold-medal double at the Archery World Cup in Antalya on Sunday. He defeated Paris Olympics bronze medallist Lee Woo Seok of South Korea 7-3 in the recurve men's individual final, just hours after winning the mixed team title with Kumkum Mohod.
The 24-year-old Indian Army archer, ranked 18th in the world, delivered a strong performance against the Korean to secure his first individual Archery World Cup gold medal.
Dhiraj made a fast start to the final, taking the first two sets 30-29 and 29-28 to move into a 4-0 lead. The third set ended level at 27-27, giving him a 5-1 advantage.
Lee responded in the fourth set with scores of 10, 10 and 9 to win it 29-27 after Dhiraj failed to hit a perfect 10. The South Korean reduced the gap to 3-5.
However, Dhiraj finished the contest in the next set. With the score at 5-3, he shot three straight 10s, including an X, to win the final set and seal the gold medal.
Earlier in the day, Dhiraj had returned to individual competition only a couple of hours after winning the recurve mixed team gold alongside Kumkum Mohod.
In the semifinals, he came from behind to defeat Germany's Moritz Wieser 6-4 and book a place in his first World Cup final. Dhiraj lost the opening set 26-27 after one of his arrows landed in the seven-ring. The next two sets were tied at 28-28, leaving him trailing 2-4 after three sets.
Facing elimination, the Indian responded by shooting three 10s to take the fourth set 30-27 and level the match at 4-4.
The deciding set saw Wieser shoot a five with his second arrow. Dhiraj remained composed, scoring 9, 10 and 9 to win the set 28-23 and secure his place in the gold-medal match.
The victory over Lee later in the day completed a memorable double for Dhiraj, who left Antalya with two gold medals — one in the recurve mixed team event and another in the men's individual competition.
