Dhiraj Bommadevara Becomes First Indian Man to Claim Recurve Gold at Archery World Cup Final

Key facts

• India's Dhiraj Bommadevara won a historic gold medal in the men's recurve event at the Archery World Cup Final 2026 held in Saltillo, Mexico, giving his Asian Games preparations a boost.
• The 25-year-old archer from Vijayawada defeated Japan's World Championships medallist Nakanishi Junya in a shoot-off in the final to become the first-ever Indian man to win a gold medal in recurve at the Archery World Cup Final.
• With the gold-medal match tied 5-5, each archer shot one arrow in the shoot-off; Dhiraj shot a 10 while Nakanishi managed only a 9.
• Nakanishi took a 3-1 lead after winning the second set 29-28, Dhiraj won the third set by the same scoreline, and Nakanishi's perfect fourth set against Dhiraj's 28 levelled the match at 5-5 to force the shoot-off.
• Dhiraj ended a 16-year wait for an Indian male recurve archer to finish on the World Cup Final podium, with Jayanta Talukdar the previous medallist through a bronze at Edinburgh 2010.
• Dola Banerjee is the only other Indian to have won an Archery World Cup Final gold, having claimed the women's individual title at the 2007 edition in Dubai.
• In the knockout stage, Dhiraj defeated Turkiye's Berkim Tumer 7-1 in the quarterfinals and France's Jean-Charles Valladont 7-1 in the semifinals; both opponents are Olympic medallists.