JOIN USDeepika Kumari crashed out of the World Archery Championships as India’s campaign in both the recurve and compound individual events ended on Thursday on a disappointing note at Belek in Turkey.
None of the Indian archers, except Rajat Chauhan in the men’s compound event, could go beyond the round of 16 in the individual events in the men’s and women’s sections. The Indians, though, remain in the fray in team events.
Deepika, India’s best bet for a medal, suffered a disappointing 2-6 loss to Mexico’s London Olympics bronze medallist Mariana Avitia in the women’s individual recurve event.
Deepika, who had won a silver in the World Cup final in Paris last month, was able to tie with her opponent in the second and fourth sets but lost the first and third to go down 25-28, 26-26, 21-22, 26-26 to Mariana in the round of 32.
Veteran Dola Banerjee performed better, getting past the round of 32 with a 6-0 thrashing of Lisa Unruh of Germany. Dola then lost 0-6 to Korean ace Bo Bae Ki in the pre-quarterfinal.
In the men’s individual recurve event, Tarundeep Rai won his round of 32 match against Yu Xing of China 6-4 but suffered a 0-6 thrashing in the pre-quarterfinals at the hands of Jin Hyek Oh of Korea.
Kapil too won his round of 32 match before getting a 0-6 drubbing by sixth-placed-qualifier Xiaoxiang Dai in the pre-quarterfinal round. Jayanta Talukdar did not get past the first round of the day.
In the women’s compound individual event, Vennam Jyothi Surekha easily won her first match of the day against Ingrid Olofsson of Sweden 136-105, but lost to Gerda Roux of South Africa 118-130.