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Olympics 2021 is finally underway. Indian archer Deepika Kumari was in action on Day 1. She competed in the women's individual ranking round and finished 9th. In this round, the archers were required to shoot a total of 72 arrows across 12 rounds of 6 shots each. They were then ranked according to their scoring to decide the brackets for the elimination rounds.
Deepika Kumari did not have the start she would have liked. She managed a total of 663 points and finished in the 9th place. Deepika will now face Karma from Bhutan, who finished in 56th place.
The opening ranking round tells us a lot about how the archery competition will pan out and what can be expected from the women's individual round, at this year's Olympics.
The South Korean challenge for Deepika Kumari
The domination maintained by South Korea in this sport, over the years, has been known by all. Be it the individual rounds or the team events, the South Koreans always find a way to make it to the top of the podium.
Today's round was no different. World No. 9 An San maintained a healthy lead throughout the round and secured the first place finish with a score of 680. She was followed by Jang Minhee with a total of 677 in second place, and World No. 3 Kang Chae Young in third place. If Deepika hopes to secure a podium place, she needs to find a way to pip this Korean trio.
Deepika Kumari's projected path to final
Finishing at the 9th place means that Deepika Kumari will face a tricky set of fixtures in the tournament. If she wants to reach the final and win gold, she will have to do so by facing two of the three Korean archers mentioned above.
Apart from the Koreans, she is also likely to meet World No. 8 Ksenia Perova in round 16. This will be followed by An San in the quarterfinals and Mexico's Alejandra Valencia in the semifinals. If she crosses these hurdles, she will be greeted by Jang Minhee in the final.
Extremely hot weather conditions in Tokyo
A common challenge that all archers are faced with at this year's Olympics is the hot weather conditions in the Japanese capital. The highest recorded temperature for the day was 33 degrees celsius. Upon completion of the ranking round, Deepika Kumari spoke about the heat and said:
"It was extremely hot weather conditions today."
Weather conditions do play a key role in sports and are a factor that needs to be taken into account to produce optimum performances.
With the rankings in the women's individual rounds completed, the elimination and the final rounds will begin from the 27th of July.
Also read - India at Olympics 2021
