Archery
World Archery C'ships: Gatha Khadake advances to RO16; Deepika Kumari exits
The 15-year-old Gatha will take on Paris Olympic Champion Lim Shiyeon of South Korea in pre-quarterfinals on Friday.
Deepika Kumari exited at the third round of World Archery C'ships. (Photo credit: World Archery)
The 15-year-old Gatha Khadake is the only Indian recurve archer to reach the last 16 of the World Archery Championships 2025 in Gwangju, South Korea, on Thursday.
She defeated (6-4) the experienced German archer, Katherine Bauer, in the third round to confirm a place in the pre-quarterfinals on her debut at the World Championships.
Gatha started her day with two dominating victories against Fatima Huseynli of Azerbaijan (7-1) and the British archer, Thea Rogers (6-0), before knocking out Bauer.
However, she has a tough road ahead, starting with the round of 16, where she will take on Korea's Olympic Champion Lim Shiyeon, who knocked another Indian archer, Ankita Bhakat, in her third round match.
Ankita also started her day with two good wins against Elena Bendikova of Slovakia (7-3) and Rezza Octavia of Indonesia (6-0) before going down against Lim.
The final and the most experienced Indian archer, Deepika Kumari, has also exited from the competition, losing a tough match 4-6 to Indonesia's Diananda Choirunisa.
This is the final event of these World championships, with India still without a recurve medal, and all hopes for a podium finish now rest on the 15-year-old archer.
