AGENCIES
ANTALYA (TURKEY), June 7: Indian archery endured a forgettable outing at Stage 3 of the World Cup here on Saturday, returning empty-handed in a performance that raised serious questions over team selection, preparation and mental fortitude, especially with the Asian Games just a year away.
The high of Shanghai last month, where India stood second on the medal tally with two gold, one silver and four bronze medals, now seems like a distant past.
The third leg in Antalya saw both recurve and compound archers flop spectacularly, with not a single podium finish, even in their traditionally strong compound category.
A day after India's compound archers crashed out in both individual and team events, the recurve results were equally dismal, with seasoned names like four-time Olympians Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai also failing to reach the medal rounds.
The only fight came from Simranjeet Kaur, who shocked everyone by stretching Korean Olympic gold medallist An San to a shoot-off in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Simranjeet, who barely made the cut at 54th with the third-lowest qualification score, was on the verge of a historic win, leading 5-3 and needing just a point to seal it against Korean star An San.
But, as has often been the case with Indian archers, nerves took over in the decider. A poor fifth set saw her shoot a 5 and an 8, allowing An San to force a shoot-off. The Korean nailed an 11 under the new scoring system, while Simranjeet faltered with an 8, losing 5-6 (29-28, 24-29, 27-24, 27-27, 23-29) (8-11).
Her second set, where she landed an arrow in the blue ring (6), also proved costly.
An San, meanwhile, defeated Indian star Deepika three times in a row.
The South Korean had earlier ousted the Indian star in the second round with a 6-0 rout (29-30, 27-28, 28-30) dashing her hope for a successive medal. Deepika had bagged a bronze in Shanghai last month.
Deepika, the former world number 1, continues to falter against elite opponents and has failed to learn from repeated mistakes, particularly against the dominant Koreans.
Ankita Bhakat, who was India's best archer in qualification at 32nd, exited in the opening round, losing 2-6 (27-26, 26-28, 29-30, 28-29) to Dunya Yenhihayat -- another lead squandered after going up 2-0. |
