Indian women’s archery team reach quarters to face Russia

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 8: The Indian women’s archery team crashed out of the Rio Olympics after going down to Russian Federation in the quarter-finals at the Olympic shooting centre here on Sunday.

In the pre-quarterfinals, the Indians defeated the Colombian team 5-3 to gain the opportunity of facing Russian Federation.

“Sports Authority of India tweeted: “#IND Women archery team will have face off with #Russia at 10:30 PM (IST).Best wishes.Cheer for team.#SAI #Rio2016”.

India lost the first set comprehensively 55-48 before Bombayla and Laxmirani hit ideal 10s in the second set to equalise the scores at 53-52.

In the fourth set, India fought back dramatically in the second half after conceding a three-point lead off the first three arrows.

“We tried our level best and were shooting confidently but somehow we missed the crucial points”.

The Russians, who had won the World Championships previous year, will take on Italy in the semi-finals. However, India held their nerve and won the game 52-51 to clinch the first set and get two points. The worst happened in the last arrow of the seventh end when she drew a blank by completely missing the target.

Needing 28 points off the final three arrows to overtake India’s total of 52, Colombian archer Caroline Aguirre lost control and the misdirected arrow fetched her only three points, much to the relief of the Indian camp.

Bombayla came back with a 10, Laxmirani followed up with a 9 and Deepika scored a ideal 10 to win the set and gain a 4-2 advantage.

The final set was then taken by India with an eight-point margin as the Colombians managed to score 44 points in response to India’s 52. The Jharkhand girl performed no better in the second, hitting a couple of 7s but somewhat found form in the last two sets, where she hit a 10 along with three arrows which fetched her 9 points each.

Bombayla was the most consistent with a single 8 pointer, five shots of 9 points each and a flawless 10.

Hours after Atanu Das impressed on his Olympic debut by finishing a creditable fifth in the individual section, India’s star archer Deepika Kumari put up one of her most consistent displays to finish a poor 20th with a score of 640 out of 720.