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Indian archers Jyoti Balyan and Rakesh Kumar stormed into the quarterfinals of the mixed compound archery event of the 2021 Paralympic Games. The duo defeated their Thai opponents Praphaporn Homjanthuek and Anon Aungaphinan (146-141) on Sunday.
India began with a tied score after the first round 35-35. In the second set of arrows, the Thai team finished one point ahead of the Indian duo of Rakesh and Jyoti with a score of 72-71.
Two perfect arrows from the Indian duo at the start of the 4th end helped them take a one-point lead with four arrows still remaining. The set ended with the score at 109-108.
It was a strong finish for Rakesh and Jyoti as they overturned a 71-72 deficit at the halfway stage to win by a comfortable six points.They swept the match against the Thai archer's with two 10s.
Earlier, Jyoti was in action at the women's individual compound event at the Paralympics. Jyoti went down to Kerri-Louise Leonard of Ireland in 141-137, to mark the end of the women's individual event campaign.
Jyoti was consistent with her arrows throughout the match. She did extremely well but her low score in the second end cost her the match. She could only manage 25 points from the six arrows, whereas Kerri-Louise bagged a 29 points from the end.
In the rankings round, Indian archer Jyoti Balyan managed to score 671 out of 720 points to finish 15th on the charts on Friday.
Meanwhile, Rakesh Kumar defeated Chuen Ka Ngai in the 1/16 elimination round of the men's compound individual archery at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics. Rakesh went past Chuen 144-131 on Saturday and advanced to the 1/8 elimination round.
Rakesh Kumar will take on Slovakia’s Marian Marecak in the 1/8 elimination round of the men's individual archery match on August 31.
Indian archer's Rakesh and Jyoti mixed team quarterfinal match timings:
Indian archers Jyoti Balyan and Rakesh Kumar will face the Turkish duo of Cure Oznur and Kormaz Bulent in the mixed team compound archery event later today (August 29).
Timings: 2.40 pm (IST)
A win in the quarterfinals against Turkey would earn India a spot in one of the medal matches at the very least.
