Deepika Kumari made a remarkably strong start with 56, 54, 54, 58 and 58 in the first five rounds. But then she got a 49 and missed the target completely in a nightmare round 7, taking her from first place to 18th in the space of two rounds. There is wind speed to be considered, but we all know Deepika is better than that — and can hope that she does much better in the elimination rounds.
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- Deepika Kumari: 56, 54, 54, 58, 58, 49, 46 – including a miss; 54, 54, 48, 56 and 53 (20th with total of 640)
- Bombayla Devi: 52, 54, 54, 57, 56, 54, 51, 53, 51, 49, 53 and 54 (24th with total of 638)
- Laxmi Rani: 54, 53, 49, 54, 50, 46, 49, 53, 54, 53, 48 and 51 (43rd with 614)
As for Bombayla Devi and Laxmi Rani, the latter needs to up her game — her low scores were pulling India’s team down and her 43rd-place finish (614 points) was completely unexpected from a World No 15. India’s score was a whopping 102 points less than top ranked South Korea but just 41 points off third placed China. If that is the difference between returning empty handed and a medal, then it’s not much.
All three women are in action on 7 August in the team quarters.
Here’s the knock-out schedule of Indian archers:
7th August: India Women vs Colombia Women at 6.45 PM (pre-quarters)
8th August: Laxmi Rani vs Alexandra Longova (Russia) at 7.30 PM
9th August: Atanu Das vs Jitbahadur Muktan (Nepal) at 8 PM
10th August: Bombayla Devi vs Lawrence Baldauff (Austria) at 6 PM
11th August: Deepika Kumari vs Kristine Esebua (Georgia) at 1.30 AM (past midnight on 10th August)