Madhura thought of quitting archery! Drushti Academy takes her back to the limelight with three medals
Amravati had a revelation-day on Saturday after Madhura Dhamangaonkar stunned the world archery with a dream comeback. But Friday was a day of nerves in the Dhamangaonkar house. Shailendra Dhamangaonkar, Madhura’s father, revealed while speaking to New Indian Express, “We had tuned in this morning, and all we had was ‘dhak dhak dhak!’ (loud heartbeats),” he said, adding that being a father to someone who has all three medals for the nation in the same day is of “immense pride. As Madhura won three medals in the World Cup in Shanghai, seeing the Indian flag rise high was a special feeling.” Hailing from Amravati, Madhura was earlier under the tutelage of Ganesh Vishwakarma and Pawan Tambade for the past seven years. Sawant first knew Madhura through archer Prathamesh Fuge, with whom the latter trained at Sonipat. “This is where she joined the Drushti Archery Academy in 2023,” he recalled. But things did not go well at all. Even she thought of quitting archery! Cut to May 2025, the compound archer has a gold medal around her neck after winning the final of the Women’s compound event against Carson Krahe of the United States at the Archery World Cup Stage 2 in Shanghai on Saturday. Her coach, Pravin Sawant, felt that it was her ‘gold wala mind’ that propelled her to victory. “Since she’s been with me, she’s always had it in her mind to win gold for the nation,” he told this daily. Madhura is someone who can grasp quickly from her tutors. “That is her biggest strength. She does what she thinks of. She does what she sets her mind on,” he added. Madhura’s story has destiny playing a pivotal part in making her who she is today. Her father, Shailendra, reminisced about the train travel from Kolkata after her sister took part in an Asian level swimming competition in Dhaka back in 2011. At the time, Madhura had taken gymnastics. “We were travelling (back to Nagpur) and when the train stopped at Chandrapur, we happened to see a woman who won a silver medal in the national games. She was a compound archer, we learnt. This was where Madhura shared her aspirations to be an archer with me,” he recalled. The archer was Jayalakshmi Sarikonda, who is now a sports officer. Little did she know that her medal inspired another to go on and clinch gold at the discipline’s premier tournament. Shailendra credited the sporting background of the family for her daughter’s success.” Her sister took part in swimming, and I was also a Kabaddi player in my day. That was conducive and it fed her confidence,” he opined. Three years ago, Madhura made it to the Indian team for the Archery World Cup Stage 4, where she lost in the second round in individual and in the quarterfinal in the women’s team event, where she paired up with Pragati and Shrishti Singh.
India’s men compound team clinch gold in Archery World Cup Stage-2
India’s men’s compound team won gold in the archery stage World Cup stage-2 in Shanghai on Saturday. India’s men’d team comprising Abhishek Verma, Ojas Deotale and young promising archer Rishabh Yadav delivered a perfect performance, defeating Mexico with a score of 232- 228 to ensure the gold medal in a thrilling encounter. In the women’s compound category Indian women, despite exhibiting a spirited show lost to Mexico and had to be content with a silver finally. Meanwhile Indian mixed team despite losing the match for reaching final, bounced back and secured a bronze medal trouncing Malaysia to make a podium finish. India have already won four medals in the Archery stage-1 world cup..
Deepika, Parth reach recurve individual semifinals in World Cup Stage-2
Deepika Kumari and Parth Salunkhe booked their spots in the semifinals of the individual recurve events at the Archery World Cup Stage-2 in Shanghai on Friday. Parth stunned former Olympic and World Champion Mete Gazoz of Turkiye in a shoot-off in the first round. The Indian also defeated Korea’s Kim Je Deok, a three-time Olympic gold medallist in team events, in the third round. His semifinal will be against reigning Olympic Champion Kim Woojin, another Korean, on Sunday. Olympian Deepika took down China’s Li Jiaman, silver medallist in the team event at the Paris Olympics, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Like Parth, Deepika will also face reigning Olympic Champion – Lim Sihyeon of Korea – in Sunday’s final-four battle. In the compound mixed team event, India’s Abhishek Verma and Madhura Dhamangaonkar went down 156-158 to Great Britain in the semifinals. Abhishek and Madhura will play against Malaysia’s Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh and Mohd. Juwaidi Mazuki in Saturday’s bronze medal match. The Indian men’s and women’s compound teams will face Mexico in their respective finals.
