Asian Games 2014: Indian women’s recurve team falter in semifinals

Bombayla Devi

Easy win for the Koreans

The Indian women’s archery team comprising Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi dished out a terrible performance before going down to formidable Korea 0-6 in the semifinals of the women’s recurve team event being played at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field in Incheon.

The Indian eves were no match for the Korean crashing out without a whimper. They had put it across Chinese Taipei by the skin of their teeth in a 5-4 win in the quarterfinals. The Indian trio found it hard to score the 10s, but had to mostly settle for the 9s and 8s. China defeated Japan 6-0 in the other semifinal.

The Indian women’s recurve team earlier kickstarted their campaign on an emphatic note, brushing aside Uzbeskistan 6-2 in the qualifying round. Meanwhile, the Indian men’s recurve team comprising Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai and Jayanta Talukdar cut a disappointing figure, going down 3-5 to Hong Kong in the qualifying round.

Indian women’s compound team to fight for bronze

There is more good news as two Indian archers moved into the quarterfinals of the men’s and women’s individual recurve events. Atanu Das and Laxmirani Majhi reached the last-eight stage, while Jayanta Talukdar and Deepika Kumari bowed out after winning their opening preliminary round.

Earlier, on Thursday, the Indian men’s compound team stormed into the final beating Iraq 231-227 at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field. The Indian team comprising Rajat Chauhan, Sandeep Kumar and Abhishek Verma were razor-sharp as they consistently scored 9s and 10s to outwit their Iraqi opponents. India will take on Korea in the final on Saturday. The Indian women’s compound team comprising Puryasha Sudhir Shende, Trishna Deb and Surekha Joythi Vennam put up a valiant effort reaching the semifinals before going down fighting 224-226 to Chinese Taipei. Indian eves will face Iran for the bronze medal on Saturday.