Indian recurve archer Dhiraj Bommadevara made history by winning the men’s individual title at the Archery World Cup Final 2026 in Saltillo, Mexico, on Sunday.
The 25-year-old beat Japan’s Nakanishi Junya 6-5 in a dramatic gold medal match decided by a shoot-off, becoming the first Indian male recurve archer to win an individual title at the Archery World Cup Final.
Dhiraj Bommadevara is only the second Indian archer to achieve the feat, following Dola Banerjee, who won the women’s recurve title in Dubai in 2007.
Bommadevara was India’s sole representative at the season-ending World Cup Final, which brought together eight archers in each of the men’s and women’s recurve and compound events.
In Saltillo, the final went the distance after little separated Dhiraj and Nakanishi across five sets.
The opening set was shared 28-28 before the Japanese archer edged the second 29-28. Dhiraj responded by taking the third 29-28, but Nakanishi regained the advantage with a 30-28 fourth set.
Needing to win the fifth to force a shoot-off, Dhiraj held his nerve to take it 28-27 and level the match at 5-5.
Both archers then produced strong arrows under pressure, but Dhiraj’s 10 bettered Nakanishi’s nine to seal the biggest individual title of his career.
The victory completed an impressive run through the eight-man field for the second-seeded Indian.
Dhiraj Bommadevara began his campaign against Olympic medallist Berkim Tümer of Turkiye in the quarter-finals and conceded just one set point in a commanding 7-1 victory.
He was similarly dominant against two-time Olympic silver medallist Jean-Charles Valladont of France in the semi-finals, winning 7-1 to advance to the gold medal match.
Nakanishi, seeded fourth, had beaten Italy’s Mauro Nespoli 6-5 in a quarter-final shoot-off before producing a 6-0 upset of top seed and Olympic champion Mete Gazoz of Turkiye in the semi-finals.
Dhiraj Bommadevara’s triumph came after he had returned without a medal from his previous appearances at the World Cup Final in 2023 and 2024.
The Indian had qualified for the Final after winning the men’s individual recurve title at the third World Cup stage in Antalya, where he also claimed mixed team gold alongside Kumkum Mohod.
India collected seven medals across the four archery World Cup stages in Puebla, Shanghai, Antalya and Madrid this season, including four golds. Dhiraj Bommadevara, however, was the country’s only individual gold medallist after his triumph in Antalya.
India’s only medal at last year’s World Cup Final in Shanghai came through Jyothi Surekha Vennam, who won silver in the women’s compound event.
