After leading her team and her country to a place it had never been before, at the very top of the women's recurve archery in the continent, Kumkum Mohod came out a day later and repeated history. This time for herself.
The 17-year-old from Amravati became India's first recurve champion in Asian Games history, defeating South Korea's Oh Yejin in a thrilling shoot-off victory on Saturday and securing an early quota spot for India for the 2028 LA Olympics.
No Indian woman had ever won an individual medal in recurve in the sport’s most challenging continental event. Kumkum turned up at her first Asian Games and grabbed the gold. She will depart from Aichi-Nagoya with three: an individual gold, a team gold, and a mixed team silver.
Deep Dive
How did Kumkum Mohod prepare mentally for her competitions at the Asian Games?
What significant impact did Kumkum Mohod's victory have for Indian archery?
What challenges did Kumkum Mohod face before achieving success at the Asian Games?
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How's that for a debut?
{{/usCountry}}How's that for a debut?
{{/usCountry}}Fittingly, a 10 from the Indian teen in the shoot-off sealed the piece of history.
Her giant-slaying run took down many mighty women that day, including South Korea's Kang Chaeyoung, the reigning World Championships defending champion and Tokyo Olympics medallist, and China's Zhu Jingyi (6-2), the World Championships silver medallist.
Kumkum carried her form from the team events. On Friday, she shot 10s off the set's final shots whenever India needed one to stay in the match or win the final. On Saturday, she shot 10 off her last shot in the quarter-final to get level in the fifth set, take the match and get past Kang 6-4 (29-28, 27-28, 28-27, 29-29, 28-28).
Against Jingyi, who began the semi-final with an 8, Kumkum was much more in command, and did not drop a set through the 6-2 (28-27, 30-30, 29-29, 29-28) win.
She had already taken down a Korean, whose recurve might has been questioned by India at these Games, earlier in the day. Yejin, though, was coming into the final in fine form.
She started off in fine fashion too, with a couple of Xs to take the first set 29-27. After a tied 29-29 second set, Kumkum grew into the contest by winning an all-10 third set. In the period from the end of the second set to the start of the fourth, the Indian sent down six straight 10s.
An 8 after that, however, dragged her down in the fourth set (27-28). She picked herself up brilliantly in the final set, firing all 10s as Yejin shot a couple of 9s.
With Kumkum roaring back to tie the contest 5-5 and take the final to a shoot-off, Yejin was feeling the heat. It showed in her sudden death shot, which was an 8. Kumkum did what she did best all through these Asian Games – deliver an ice-cool 10 when it mattered the most. For herself. For her country. With a gold on the line.