Women archers Bombayala Devi and Deepika Kumari crashed out of the competition as India’s chase for elusive medal continues in the 2016 Rio Olympic.
India’s challenge in the archery women’s individual event ended after archery Bombayla Devi lost 26-28, 26-23, 27-28, 23-25 to Mexico’s Alejandra Valencia in the pre-quarters at Rio 2016 Olympics. Earlier, Deepika Kumari also suffered a 28-27, 29-26, 30-27 loss and with this, her Rio Olympics journey came to an end.
Laishram Bombayla Devi and Deepika Kumari entered the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s individual recurve event, with impressive performances. Deepika Kumari won her 1/32 and 1/16 elimination contests to jump in the pre-quarters of the individual archery event at Rio 2016 Olympics. She put a stellar performance as she swiftly defeated Italy’s Sartori Guendalina 6-2 in the 1/16 elimination after winning over her opponent from Georgia, Kristine Esebua, 6-4 in the 1/32 elimination round.
Another archer, who looked promising was Bombayla Devi, this was her third Olympics. She showed great composure while facing her opponent Taipei’s Lin Shih-Chia from China; she won three sets whereas her opponent had to settle on one win. Before facing Shia-Chin-Lin, Devi defeated Austria’s Laurence Baldauff in 1/32 elimination round.
By entering the pre-quarterfinals of the Individual men’s recurve event, India’s Atanu Das, remained the only hope among the gloomy Indian fans. Atanu showed his prowess by winning two matches in under two hours and advancing to the pre-quarters of the men’s individual event. He first beat Nepal’s Bahadur Muktan 6-0 in the round of 32 and then put up a great show against Cuba’s Adrian Andres Puentes, winning the match 6-4.
India was pinning hope on these extremely talented female archers to come back home with a medal, but in vain. On sixth day, India’s chase for elusive medal continues in the Olympic.
by Ashwani Srivastava