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Archers Deepika, Bhajan knocked out of Paris Olympics
Source: PTI
August 03, 2024

IMAGE: India's Deepika Kumari in action during the Archery Women's Individual Quarterfinals in Invalides, Paris, France, at the Paris Olympics, on Saturday. Photograph: Tingshu Wang/Reuters

Veteran archer Deepika Kumari crumbled under pressure once again, suffering a 4-6 loss to Korea's Suhyeon Nam in the women's individual event quarter-finals to bring down curtains on India's campaign at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.

Deepika had qualified for the quarter-finals after defeating Germany's Michelle Kroppen 6-4 earlier in the day.

Deepika had defeated the 19-year-old Nam in straight sets in the semi-final at the Shanghai World Cup in April en route winning a silver medal, but on Saturday the Indian stalwart could not repeat that performance.

The two archers were tied 4-4 after four sets but Nam was rewarded for her consistency as she claimed the fifth set to enter the semi-finals.

Deepika, who has been criticised for her below-par show in the team event, was not consistent enough as scores of six and seven in the second and fourth sets pegged her back.

The Indian 30-year-old Indian recorded 28-26 in the first set to garner two points. She then hit a 10, 6 and 9 as Nam brought things on level terms, winning the second set 28-25.

Deepika again took a lead, winning the third set 29-28 with two 10s. The Indian then scored 10, 7, 10 to lose the fourth set 27-29.

In the decider, Deepika scored 9, 9 and 9 to lose the fifth set after the Korean produced scores of 10, 9 and 10.

Earlier, Deepika  qualified for the quarter-finals of the women's individual archery event after defeating Germany's Michelle Kroppen in the 1/8 elimination round but Bhajan Kaur crashed out following a loss to Indonesia's Diananda Choirunisa 6-5.

The Indian defeated her German rival 6-4 in the elimination round after recording a score of 27-24 in the first set to garner two points. The two then shot 27-27 in the second set to share the points. Deepika won the third set 26-25 for two more points.

In the fourth set, the German took two points with a 29-27 win but Deepika was already ahead by two points heading into the final set.

IMAGE: Indian Archer Bhajan Kaur in action during the Round of 16 Women's Individual Archery event at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, in Paris, on Saturday. Photograph: ANI Photo/DDSports Grab

In the fifth set, the rivals were tied at 27-all and split the points, but Deepika walked away with a 6-4 win to make it to the quarter-finals.

In the other contest, India's Bhajan fought well but her Indonesian opponent was far too good on the day.

Choirunisa was ahead by two points with a scoreline of 4-2 by the third set. After the Indonesian won the first set 29-28 for two points, Bhajan took two points in the next to make it 27-25.

However, in the third set Choirunisa bounced back to win 28-26. In the fourth, the Indian archer did well to take one point home with a scoreline of 28-28 and as did the Indonesian, taking the scoreline to 5-3.

In the fifth and final set, Bhajan did extremely well to earn two points with the scoreline drawn at 27-27, forcing the contest into shoot-off where she shot eight while her opponent shot nine.

Bhajan thus lost 5-6 to the Indonesian archer in the 1/8 Elimination round for the quarter-finals.

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