Dhiraj Bommadevara delivered one of the finest days of his career at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya, Turkiye, on 14 June, first claiming his maiden individual recurve gold medal and then combining with 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod to win the mixed team title — completing a golden double for India.

Individual Final: Ending a Five-Year Drought

The 24-year-old Dhiraj defeated Olympic bronze medallist Lee Woo-seok of South Korea 7-3 in the men's individual recurve final, securing the biggest title of his career to date. It was his first individual gold at a World Cup and his fourth individual World Cup medal overall, having previously collected three bronze medals.

The victory ended a five-year wait for India in the men's individual recurve category. Atanu Das was the last Indian to claim this title, doing so in 2021. Only Jayanta Talukdar has also won an individual recurve World Cup gold for India among men.

A Comeback in the Semis Set the Tone

Dhiraj's path to the gold-medal match was far from straightforward. He trailed Germany's Moritz Wieser 1-3 in the semi-finals before rallying to win 6-4. That comeback appeared to sharpen his focus heading into the final, where he outpaced Lee Woo-seok — one of the world's premier recurve archers — with clinical composure.

Mixed Team Gold: Upsetting the Top Seeds

Earlier on the same day, Dhiraj partnered with teenage sensation Kumkum Mohod to win the recurve mixed team gold. Seeded third, the Indian pair stunned top-seeded Oh Yejin and Kim Je-deok of South Korea 5-1 in the final.

The scale of the upset is underlined by their opponents' credentials. Kim Je-deok was part of the South Korean mixed team that claimed gold at the Tokyo Olympics and has been on South Korea's champion men's teams at both Tokyo and Paris. Oh Yejin is a former youth world champion.

With the win, Dhiraj and Kumkum became only the third Indian mixed recurve pair to win a World Cup gold. Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das were the first, in Paris in 2021, followed by Tarundeep Rai and Ridhi, who triumphed in Antalya in 2022.

Kumkum Mohod's Back-to-Back Gold Run

For Kumkum Mohod, the mixed team title marked her second consecutive World Cup gold medal. She had also been part of India's winning women's recurve team at the previous World Cup in Shanghai, signalling the emergence of a major new force in Indian archery.

India's Recurve Resurgence

The double gold in Antalya is the latest marker of India's growing strength in recurve archery, a discipline where the country has historically trailed its compound counterparts. This comes amid a broader push by India to consolidate Olympic-cycle form ahead of future Games. With both Dhiraj and Kumkum now building momentum on the World Cup circuit, the results in Antalya are likely to sharpen selection conversations for upcoming international competitions.