Ojas Deotale made history, becoming India's first male world champion, with a perfect gold medal performance at the 2023 World Archery Championships in Berlin on Saturday.
In the compound men's category, Deotale displayed exceptional skill and composure, shooting a perfect 150 in the final to beat Poland’s Lukasz Przybylski by a single point. With this remarkable achievement, he etched his name in the annals of Indian archery history.
Earlier, Deotale defeated Przemyslaw Konecki and world number one Mike Schloesser in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.
MORE: Bet on Archery World Championship from India
Another🥇for 🇮🇳 at the Archery World Championships🏹@kheloindia Athlete Ojas Pravin Deotale creates HISTORY as he wins🥇after defeating 🇵🇱's Lukasz Przybylski with a perfect score of 150-149 💯
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 5, 2023
With this, he also becaomes 1️⃣st 🇮🇳 male to win Individual🥇in Men's Compound 🏹 pic.twitter.com/cipHyQKQRP
What did Ojas Deotale say after his historic win?
“It is like a dream to me; I still am dreaming. It was just a thought I could win the individual gold medal but today I did it for my country. I am still dreaming, I cannot think I am a new world champion. It is all about practice, practice, practice," he told after the victory.
“I was only thinking about my process, I will not lose a single shot. I only concentrated on my technique and therefore I could win. My legs are still trembling, I still don’t know how it happened. I want to continue doing it and see the Indian tricolour flying high in every country.
"The government is supporting us and all the staff are supporting us and giving their best shot. Each and every supporting staff, everyone is behind these gold medals. Hopefully, there will be more medals, we have the Asian Games next and I am focusing on that," he added.
MORE: India win historic gold medal
Who is Ojas Deotale?
Deotale hails from Nagpur and is coached by Pravin Sawant who is a constable in Maharashtra Police.
Deotale and Aditi Swami, who won individual and team gold at the World Championships, trains at the same academy which is built on a sugarcane land in Satara.
Sawant says that his pupil's technique was "unorthodox" but good enough to produce the goods.
"His shooting was unorthodox but impactful. I just had to motivate him and tune him mentally. He did the rest," he told in an interview to PTI.
Sawant has also had his fair share of struggles and it was a medicine shop owner, Manabendra Kadam, who offered an acre of sugarcane land to set up his amateur academy.
Deotale honed his skills in this academy before conquering the world.
However, while he is in Nagpur, he lacks a proper training setup and had urged the District Sports Office to allow him to practice at the Tajbag Krida Sankul.
Deotale was selected for the Asian Games and World Championship after he dazzled at the Asia Cup Stage 3 in 2022 in the team and individual events winning gold and silver respectively.
At Sharjah, he teamed up with Priyansh to earn the top spot after beating the mighty Koreans 230-224 in the summit clash. Meanwhile, in the individual event, he lost to his compatriot Priyansh (148-141) and settled for a silver.
MORE: How to watch Archery World Championships 2023
