Lausanne, Feb 17, 2014: Following a third consecutive silver medal at the Archery World Cup Final, Deepika KUMARI was named Sportsperson of the Year at the India Sport Awards.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who has over 200,000 followers on Facebook, picked up her first podium of the year in Shanghai before two last-8 finishes in Medellin and Wroclaw.
That won her a ticket to Paris, and her fourth Archery World Cup Final in a row. And for the third time since 2011, Deepika KUMARI made it to the gold medal match – where she narrowly missed out (skip to 1:28:00) to Korea’s YUN Ok Hee.
At the age of just 19, KUMARI’s titles include Commonwealth Games Champion, world cadet and junior crowns and five World Cup stage podiums – including Antalya gold in 2012 – as well as those three Archery World Cup Final silver medals.
KUMARI and her fellow recurve women were also named Indian Team of the Year, thanks to gold medals in Medellin and Wroclaw to close out the 2013 season.
DAMSBO nets Act of Fair Play award
Lausanne, Feb 17, 2014: Martin DAMSBO lent Braden GELLENTHIEN his spare bow to shoot against him for bronze at Antalya, when the top USA compound archer’s equipment malfunctioned.
DAMSBO offered the defending World Cup Final winner his back-up, and the pair warmed up for their third-place shoot-off – rather than have top United States compound archer Braden GELLENTHIEN withdraw, which would have handed the Dane the medal by default.
The match went Martin DAMSBO’s way – and it kicked off a late season run that saw him succeed GELLENTHIEN as World Cup Final champion and pick up a gold medal with the Danish team at the 2013 Worlds in Belek.
At their annual conference, the International Fair Play Committee chose DAMSBO for the Act of Fair Play award for, without hesitation, offering his spare bow to his opponent so he could continue competing.
“It’s an honour to be selected for the Act of Fair Play award when so many great athletes display fair play every day,” said DAMSBO. “Many people asked why I lent Braden my spare bow, and it’s fairly simple: Braden is an amazing shooter, whom I have known for many years – and have great respect for. If he had beaten me with my own bow, then he would have deserved the win.”
“I would rather have a match than win by default – and I would like to think that, if I some day I needed a hand, someone would do the same for me. Archery is full of respect between shooters – and because we travel around the world together, it feels like we’re part of one big family.”
World Archery’s Male Athlete of the Year in 2013, Martin is the rolemodel for an elite archer. He’s been a consistent fixture on the international podium, won some of the sport’s biggest prizes – and done it all with genuine personality, dignity and respect.
Watch that compound men’s bronze medal match from Antalya in full below, or by heading over to World Archery TV. —- WA
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