Ians

Shanghai: Indian archer Deepika Kumari equalled the world record in the woman's recurve event at the Archery World Cup here on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old scored 686 points out of a maximum of 720 to equal the existing world record set by reigning Olympic and World Champion Ki Bo-bae of South Korea in July last year.

Deepika, who was honoured with Padma Shri this year, has previously taken silver medals in individual events at the 2011, 2012 and 2013 editions of the Archery World Cup.

She also won gold in both the individual and the team recurve events at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and a team bronze at the 2010 Asian Games.

Deepika has already qualified for the upcoming Rio Olympics, thanks to her performances at the World Championships in Copenhagen last year.

"Deepika Kumari had earned 690/720 points twice in the Olympics' selection trials held at Jamshedpur and Delhi in March 2016," the Archery Association of India (AAI) said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Deepika is among the four members who have been shortlisted for the Rio Olympic Games and this performance at World Cup will surely boost up her morale for future events," it added.

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