New Delhi: Teen sensation Deepika Kumari and Rahul Banerjee won gold medals in individual recurve events on the last day of the competition to help India end their campaign in archery on a high note, even as their fellow mates fell short of expectations.
Indian archers finished with three golds, one silver and four bronze medals.
On the final day on Sunday at the Yamuna Sports Complex, besides two golds, India also bagged two bronze medals when senior pros Dola Banerjee and Jayanta Talukdar disappointed with third place finishes.
Earlier in the morning session, India's 'baby' archer Deepika made a giant leap to stardom thrashing Olympic bronze medallist Alison Wiliamson 6-0 for the women's recurve individual gold medal.
This was India's second gold in archery after the women's troika of Deepika, Dola and Bombayala Devi Laishram won the gold in the recurve team event.
World Cup Final 2007 winner Dola Banerjee faltered in the semis to settle for a bronze but her younger brother Rahul made up for the heart-break, claiming a gold with a thrilling 6-5 win over Jason Lyon in the shoot-off.
Shattering hopes for an all-Indian final, the Canadian ousted Indian ace Jayanta Talukdar 6-0 to make it to the final as the Guwahati archer settled for a bronze.
Talukdar beat Australia's three-time Olympian Matthew Gray 6-4 in the third place play-off.
In a thrilling men's recurve final, Banerjee and Lyon shot an identical 27 to tie the first set 1-1.
The Canadian shot 29 with two perfect 10s to take the second set 2-0 with a two-point margin. The third set brought more misery for Banerjee who shot 28 to lose by one point.
Down 1-5, Banerjee made a spirited comeback taking the fourth and fifth set for a shoot-off. Cheered by a boisterous crowd, Banerjee shot 9 while the Canadian managed an 8.
Meanwhile, the 17-year-old Ranchi girl, Deepika, maintained her cool composure and defied the breezy condition in the Eastern fringes of the city to thrash Athens bronze medallist Alison Wiliamson in straight sets (6-0).
Double Olympian and winner of 2007 World Cup finals Dola went down to Athens bronze medallist Williamson 2-6, while Deepika beat Malaysia's Anbarasi Subramaniam 7-1 in the semis.
In the bronze medal play-off, Dola beat Subramaniam of Malaysia 6-2. "The wind was blowing from right to left very strongly, something that did Dola in. I asked Deepika to maintain her cool and not to get disturbed by the wind factor.
She did just that. I am so happy for her," women's team coach Poornima Mahato told PTI.
Daughter of an autorickshaw driver Shiv Narayan Mahato and mother Geeta, who works as a nurse in Ranchi Government Hospital, Deepika is the reigning cadet world champion and she recently won a silver medal at the World Cup stage 4 held in Shanghai last month, a performance that enabled her qualify for the coveted World Cup finals in Edinburgh.
In Sunday's final, an unruffled Deepika shot 10-9-8 to win the first set 2-0 by a slender one point margin that put pressure on Williamson.
With the crowd cheering 'Come On Deepika... Jai Ho...", for the Indian, the pressure was evident on the veteran 29-year-old Englishwoman as she managed 8-9-8 compared to Deepika's 9-10-9 to lose the second set by three points.
Leading 4-0, Deepika was at her best in the third set as she shot three perfect 10s to clinch the issue. Williamson could only manage 9-8-7 to go down 0-6.
Crediting her parents, coaches (Poornima and Dharmendra Tiwari) at the Tata Archery Academy for her triumph, Deepika said, "I am over the moon. I am thankful to my parents, coaches who have supported through out. I just focussed on not to lose hope and concentrate on my shooting. I was hopeful to win this medal. I just wanted to be more confident," he said.
Asked about her Olympic bronze medalist opponent, Deepika said, "She is very experienced. Sometimes you win a game with experience but at other times by what you do during the game."
Deepika now has her eyes on the Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou, China next month.
"I'll start practicing for the Asian Games and do well there and I'll do my best to qualify for the Olympics."
Deepika considers 'Dola didi' as her sporting idol in archery and said she was really upset at the veteran archer's loss in the semifinals. "I felt bad that she could not compete in the finals. She is my senior and she keeps telling me how to hit a shot. I wanted to play against her in the finals but it didn't happen," she said.
Dola blamed the wind factor for her loss. "The wind is creating a lot of confusion as it is blowing very hard today."
"I was aiming at the right point but still it did not go my way. My shooting was good but the wind made my shots go here and there. The wind now is much stronger than earlier in the morning," Dola added.
In the biggest upset of the morning, Dola lost a 2-0 lead in the first set as Williamson fought back to clinch 6-2.
Dola shot 27 in the first set as Williamson managed 24 but the 2004 bronze medallist fought back with a brilliant 28 in the second set and bring the match on a 2-2 even keel.
Dola then managed 24 in the second set.
With a strong wind affecting the duo, the third set was a low-scoring affair as Williamson won by a slender one point to edge past Dola 4-2. Williamson did not give a chance in the third set as she shot 27 to win the encounter.
Dola, however, ensured a bronze for the country when she erased a first set deficit to win 6-2 over Subramaniam.
The other medals in archery had come through the women's recurve team who had won the gold, while men's team had settled for a bronze.
The compound archers drew a blank in individual section but the team did well with the men getting a silver while women bagging the fourth bronze.
These were India's first medals in archery which returned to the Games only for the second time after making a debut in Brisbane (1982). Glasgow 2014, by the way, will not have archery competition.
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