Archery World C’ship
New Delhi: Deepika Kumari won her first two recurve individual elimination round contests to advance to the Round of 32 while the compound mixed team eye the bronze after losing in the semifinals of the World Championships at Belek, Turkey, on Wednesday.
The compound mixed team of Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam produced an impressive performance to beat higher-ranked teams Denmark and Korea before losing to Russia in the semis. They now play the USA in the bronze medal play-off on Saturday.
The Indian duo, who qualified in 11th, first beat Denmark (qualified sixth) 150-147 and then accounted for top team Korea – who were third in the qualification – by a good margin of 153-144. But the Indians lost narrowly (147-150) to Russia in the semis on Tuesday night.
Russia and Italy – who had beaten top-ranked USA – meet in the final on Saturday.
Deepika, who qualified 10th, won an easy first round contest over Anete Kreicberga of Latvia 6-0 before getting the better of Polish Wioleta Myszor 6-2 in the second round.
Deepika faces London Olympics bronze medallist Mariana Avitia in the Round of 32 on Thursday.
Veteran Dola Banerjee also moved into the Round of 32 with victory over Elena Mousikou of Cyprus 6-2 and Ana Maria Rendon of Colombia 6-0.
However, Chekrovolu Swuro crashed out of the Championships after losing to Bishindee Urantungalag of Mongolia 4-6.
In the men’s individual recurve, all the members of the Indian trio of Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar and Kapil advanced to the Round of 32.
India join Korea as the only countries with three men remaining in the competition.
Rai beat Matija Mihalic of Croatia 6-2 in the first round won 6-4 over Zhang Jianping of China while Talukdar did exactly the same, winning his fifth set against Thomas Faucheron of France. Kapil won a shoot-off against Daniel Pacheco of Colombia (6-5) in the second round.
In the men’s compound individual event, Rajat Chauhan and Abhishek Verma advanced to the Round of 32 after winning their respective rounds.
In the women’s compound individual event, Trisha Deba and Jhano Hansdah crashed out and Jyothi Surekha Vennam remained the only Indian in the fray. (PTI)