KOLKATA: India will have their highest representation in the World Cup Archery Final when five of their archers will line up in the season-ending 'Champion of Champions' clash at Hermosillo, Mexico, this weekend.
Winners of one of the circuit's four stages - in Antalya (Turkey), Shanghai (China), Medellin (Colombia) and Paris (France) along with those with best World Cup rankings qualified for the Final, while Mexico received one spot in each category as host nation. In all only 32 archers, eight in each of the four categories( men, women recurve and men, women compound), have made it to the two-day event.
Ace archer Deepika Kumar remains the highest medal winner for the country in this competition claiming four silver medals.
India will have a strong presence in the compound section with two representatives in both men's and women's categories. While Jyothi Surekha Vennam made the grade by virtue of winning her first individual stage gold at Antalya, her teammate Aditi Swami will line up along the world's bests after being crowned the under-18 and senior world champion at the age of 17.
Going by recent form, India's chances of a medal rest heavily on the duo although the field includes World No. 1 Ell a Gibson of Great Britain and defending champion and World No. 2 Sara Lopez of Colombia.
The men's compound category will see seasoned campaigner Abhishek Verma and youngster Prathamesh Jawkar, who stunned World No. 1 Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands to win gold at Shanghai.
Verma too had the better of Schloesser in the quarterfinals to win gold on his comeback to the India side in Colombia.
India's sole representative in the recurve section will be Dhiraj Bommadevara, who made it via rankings after winning a bronze in the men's individual category at Antalya.
India will go unrepresented in the women's recurve competition.
