India’s best woman archer Deepika Kumari, lost narrowly to Ming Cheng of China in the shoot-off to settle for a silver medal in the prestigious Archery World Cup final held in Istanbul on Sunday.

According to information received here, the 17-year-old, who was India’s solitary participation at the World Cup Final, had a 4-2 lead at the end of the third set, but in a dramatic finish the Ranchi girl lost out 5-6 to miss the gold and emulate Dola Banerjee’s feat.

India have only one gold medal in one of World Cup Final leg courtesy Dola had won in Dubai, three years back.

Deepika, who has already secured an Olympic quota for London 2012, had a terrific run in the final held at the picturesque shores of the Bosphorus where East meets West as the Commonwealth Games double gold medalist beat promising 16-year-old Mexican Alejandra Valencia who won a bronze medal at the Ogden World Cup (Stage 3).

But the reigning World Junior champion had her best win when she ousted Beijing Olympic bronze medalist Berengere Schuh of France in the semis to set up a summit clash against World Cup Stage 3 gold medalist Cheng. The Indo-Chinese duo had a spectacular start in the final, with both firing in 10-10 each to start the first set.

But in the third set of arrows, Cheng shot a 9 while Deepika got an 8 as the Indian trailed the first set 0-2 with scores of 28-29.