Paris Olympics: India’s bid for maiden archery medal ends with Deepika’s 4-6 defeat in quarters

Paris: India’s final hope of a medal in archery, four-time Olympian Deepika Kumari lost 4-6 against South Korea’s Nam Su-Hyeon in the women’s Individual quarterfinal match, ending India’s campaign in the Paris Olympics archery competition without a medal.

Despite starting strongly with a 28-26 win in the first set and a 29-28 victory in the third which saw Deepika one set away from victory with a 4-2 lead to her name, the Indian lost the final two sets 29-27, 29-27 to go down in the quarterfinal match which would have taken her one win away from securing a medal.

Deepika stormed into the quarterfinals of the Women’s Individual 1/8 Elimination Round with a 6-4 win against Germany’s Kroppen Michelle whereas Bhajan Kaur lost 5-6 to Indonesia’s Choirunisa Diananda in the shoot-off round earlier on Saturday.

This is the second time in two days that an Indian archer has come close to winning a medal in the Paris Olympics.

On Friday, India’s Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat had lost 6-2 to USA’s Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold in the bronze medal match in the Mixed Team event.

The Indians were believed to be medal contenders in the Team events but both the men’s and women’s teams crashed out in the quarterfinals despite finishing in good positions in the selection round.

All three male archers had lost in the preliminary rounds, failing to make it to the medal rounds.

–IANS