Archery: Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari win mixed team gold at World Cup in Paris
Paris, Jun 27: The seasoned and in-form Deepika Kumari was a constant in India's remarkable haul of three gold medals at the World Cup Stage 3 here on Sunday, an unprecedented sweep for the country at the mega-event ahead of next month's Tokyo Olympics.
Deepika blanked Russia's Elena Osipova 6-0 in the final of the women's individual recurve event to complete a hat-trick of gold medals in one day. She had earlier been a part of the mixed and women's gold-winning Indian teams.
In the mixed final, Deepika and husband Atanu Das, who are India's best medal hope in archery in the Olympics, bounced back from a 0-2 deficit to down the Netherland's Sjef van den Berg and Gabriela Schloesser 5-3.
This was after the women's recurve team of Deepika, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari notched up the gold medal with a comfortable win over Mexico, shrugging off the disappointment of missing Olympic qualification last week.
"It feels amazing. First time we won the final together, it feels so happy," Atanu said after their win.
The two got married after a two-year courtship and would be celebrating their first wedding anniversary on June 30.
"It feels we are made for each other. But in the ground we are not couple but like just other competitors, we motivate, support and back each other," Atanu said.
Incidentally, this was also a first mixed pair gold medal for the former world number one Deepika who has five silver and three bronze medals in the event.
Her last mixed pair final appearance was also with Atanu in Antalya World Cup 2016. The duo had lost to Korea.
Deepika, who had earlier spearheaded the women's team to a second successive World Cup gold medal this year, said: "It feels happy."
She will be shooting for a hat-trick of gold later in the day.
India have so far won three gold medals with compound archer Abhishek Verma opening the tally by winning the individual event on Saturday.
In the mixed pair final, fifth-seeded Atanu and Deepika complemented each other well as the latter came into her own after a sluggish start.
Atanu had a near perfect first set, while Deepika stuttered with an 8 en route to a total of 37, while the Dutch pair nosed ahead by one point.
Trailing 0-2, India had commanding opening round scores of 19 with Atanu starting off with another perfect 10 to put pressure on the Dutch team which managed 16 to give a three-point advantage midway into the second set.
Atanu and Deepika shot 9 and 8 respectively in the second round to level it 2-2 at the halfway stage.
In the back end, Deepika found her golden touch to shoot two perfect 10s including one X as the duo dropped just one point to take the third set 39-37 for a 4-2 lead.
Needing a tie to clinch the issue in the fourth set, the duo found some resistance from the Dutch pair and the two teams were locked 19-19 at the halfway mark.
Van den Berg and Schloesser put together another 19 in the final round but Atanu held his nerves for a perfect 10 before Deepika seized the moment with a 9.
Earlier in the day, in a repeat of the World Cup first stage final, the troika of world number three Deepika, Ankita and Komalika defeated fancied Mexico 5-1 without dropping a set.
This was their second successive gold medal in the World Cup this year, and sixth overall. Deepika was a constant each time.
The trio, which had stuttered to win the gold against the same opponents in Guatemala City two months back, was at its best, shooting four 10s with one X (closest to the centre) for a 57-57 score in the first set.
The Indians' flawless shooting put pressure back on the Mexican team of London 2012 silver-medallist Aida Roman, Alejandra Valencia and Ana Vazquez. They shot a poor 52 to lose the second set by three points.
Leading 3-1, the Indians had another round of consistent shooting with a 55 but the Mexicans failed to equalise and lost the third set by a slender one point to suffer a second successive defeat this year.
Deepika Kumari ?? takes gold in Paris! ??? #ArcheryWorldCup pic.twitter.com/0ZIxSceCFs
— World Archery (@worldarchery) June 27, 2021
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Congress not just removed clothes at AI Summit but exposed its intellectual bankruptcy: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Congress for the shirtless protest by its youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit recently, saying the opposition party can tear as many clothes as it wants, but his government will continue to work for the country's progress.
Addressing the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Modi also said that the Congress did not just remove its clothes in front of foreign guests but also exposed its intellectual bankruptcy, asserting that the millennials have already taught the country's oldest party a lesson, and now Gen-Z is ready to do the same.
In an apparent jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said the opposition was unhappy seeing the statue of "Babbar Shers" (lions) installed atop the new Parliament building, but their own “Babbar Shers" were running away after facing the "shoes" of the general public.
Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said on February 24 that he was proud of the "Babbar Shers" of the Indian Youth Congress, who "fearlessly" raised their voice at the AI Summit.
"Congress ke Babbar Sher logon ki jute kha ke bhaag gaye (The 'lions' of Congress ran away after being hit by shoes by the public)," Modi said.
The prime minister was apparently referring to the protesting Youth Congress workers being heckled by some people at the AI Summit.
On February 20, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest inside Hall No. 5 of the summit venue in Delhi by removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts printed with anti-government slogans, triggering a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.
“Congress can tear as many clothes as it wants, but we will continue to work for India's development. Congress not just shed clothes at the AI Summit, it also exposed its incapabilities in front of foreign guests,” Modi said in his nearly 45-minute speech.
He said the AI Summit was a moment of pride for the entire nation, but unfortunately, Congress attempted to tarnish this national celebration.
"When the frustration and despair of failure weigh on the mind, and arrogance makes one's head spin, such a mindset emerges to defame the country," he said.
The prime minister also alleged that the Congress always takes refuge in Mahatma Gandhi to hide its failures, but tries to give credit to one family for anything good.
"People of our country welcomed every good step taken by our government, but the Congress only knows how to oppose everything. The votes of Congress are not stolen; rather, people do not consider Congress worthy of their votes. Millennials first taught a lesson to Congress, now Gen-Z is ready to do the same," he said.
Modi also said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition is not just about blindly opposing every move of the government, but presenting an alternative vision, and that is why the "enlightened public" of the country is "teaching a lesson" to Congress now.
In 1984, the Congress got 39 per cent of the votes and more than 400 seats. But its votes declined consistently in the subsequent elections, Modi said.
"Today, the condition of the Congress is such that it has more than 50 MLAs in just four states. Over the past 40 years, the number of young voters in the country has increased, but the Congress has clearly diminished," Modi said.
On the recent trade deals that India signed with foreign countries, Modi said the country has discovered its inherent strength and strengthened its institutions, which prompted developed nations to come forward and sign deals with India.
He also said that even after Independence, some people ensured that the colonial mindset remained for their own benefits.
"No country would have done trade deals with us had we not discovered our inherent strength and strengthened our institutions. Because of this, developed nations have come forward to sign trade deals (with India)," he said.
Modi also said that even after Independence, India was unable to break free from the mentality of slavery, for which the country is still paying the price.
"The latest example of this can be seen in the ongoing discussions on trade deals. Some people are shocked – ‘what has happened, how did this happen? Why are developed countries so eager to do trade deals with India?’ The answer is – a confident India is emerging from despair and frustration," he said.
Over the long span of history, centuries of slavery had instilled a feeling of inferiority, while the ideology imported from other countries deeply ingrained in society the notion that Indians were uneducated and subservient, the prime minister said.
"If the country was still mired in the despair of the pre-2014 era, counted among the 'Fragile Five', and gripped by policy paralysis, who would strike a trade deal with us?
"Over the past 11 years, a new surge of energy has flowed into the nation's consciousness. India is now striving to reclaim its lost potential," Modi said.
The prime minister also said that due to the recent series of reforms initiated by his government, the world's most powerful nations are now coming forward to sign trade deals with India.
"There was a time when India was only a consumer of new technology. But now we are not just developing them, but also setting standards," he said.
The prime minister also said that India's digital public infrastructure has become a subject of global discussion today, and every move India makes is closely watched and analysed across the world.
"The AI Summit was a clear example of this," he said.
The government's 'Viksit Bharat by 2047' is not a political slogan but an effort to correct the mistakes of the previous Congress governments by making India self-reliant, he said.
“So far, in every industrial revolution, India and the Global South largely remained followers, but in this age of artificial intelligence (AI), India is not only participating but is also shaping it. India now has its own AI startup ecosystem,” Modi said.
He also said the world is astonished that India, where around 30 million families lived in darkness until 2014, has now risen to become one of the top countries in solar power capacity.
India, where many cities had no hope of improving their public transport system, has now become the country with the world's third-largest Metro network, Modi said.
“The Indian Railways was known only for chronic delays and sluggish speeds, yet semi-high-speed connectivity like Vande Bharat and Namo Bharat has now become possible,” he said.
Nation-building never happens through short-term thinking; it is shaped by a long-term vision, patience and timely decisions, the prime minister added.
