Indian recurve archer Simranjeet Kaur produced the performance of her career to book a place in the semifinals of the second stage of the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai, delivering a string of impressive victories against some of the world’s top archers. The 27-year-old emerged as India’s standout performer in the women’s recurve event on Friday at the Yuanshen Sports Centre, where she defeated Chinese Taipei’s Fong You Jhu 6-0 in the quarterfinals to secure her maiden appearance in a World Cup final four.
Kaur’s road to the semifinals was nothing short of remarkable. She began her campaign with a hard-fought 6-4 victory over Spain’s Paula Alvarez before edging past China’s Yu Qi by the same margin. She then survived a tense shoot-off against Türkiye’s Gizem Ozkan, winning 6-5 to advance into the quarterfinals.
In the last-eight clash, Kaur delivered her most dominant performance of the tournament. Shooting end scores of 27, 28 and 29, she swept aside Fong You Jhu in straight sets while doubling her opponent’s count of perfect 10s. The calm conditions at the venue allowed Kaur to showcase her precision and composure under pressure. The emotional significance of the moment was immediately visible after the match. Kaur broke down in tears before calling her father moments after sealing victory.
“I just called my dad after the match and I cried because it actually is a big deal for me and it was long-awaited,” said the Indian archer. “I feel like this is the best thing which can ever happen to an archer who is preparing for each and every World Cup, the bigger events and all the competitions.”
Throughout the day, Kaur focused heavily on maintaining mental composure, repeatedly reminding herself to stay detached from the pressure of results. “I think 1000 times today I told myself to detach and shoot,” she said. “Detach from the result, detach from the emotions and everything else – just shoot.”
“From match one and arrow one, I kept telling myself to detach and shoot because when you become too attached to the result or where the arrow is going to land, it becomes very difficult,” she said. “I’ve lost many more times when I was too attached before.”
Kaur’s breakthrough performance comes amid the intense competition within Indian archery. India is widely regarded as one of the strongest nations in recurve archery, with a highly demanding domestic trial structure that consistently produces world-class talent. The depth of India’s women’s recurve squad was evident in Shanghai itself. Kaur had only qualified as the fourth-best Indian archer behind Ankita Bhakat, Kumkum Anil Mohod and veteran Deepika Kumari during the ranking rounds. Kaur entered the elimination rounds seeded 15th overall.
Despite her strong individual run, Kaur will not feature in India’s recurve women’s team gold medal match against China due to team selection rules based on qualification rankings. However, all four Indian archers remain in contention for medals in Shanghai. Reflecting on the pressure of India’s selection process, Kaur admitted that domestic trials often feel very different from international tournaments.
“They are very long trials in India and we have to shoot very consistently again and again to be in the team,” said Kaur. “The funny thing is, after going back from Shanghai, we have Asian Games trials but I feel like the trials are a bit different from the World Cup here.”
“If you lose one match, it’s finished here, but in the trials you get chances to show consistency and arrow average, so both of them are actually very different things.”
Kaur will now face South Korean star Kang Chaeyoung in the semifinal on May 10. A victory would guarantee India a silver medal and mark one of the biggest achievements of Kaur’s career so far.
The 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup Stage 2 in Shanghai continues through the weekend, with compound finals scheduled on Saturday before the recurve medal matches conclude on Sunday.
