India’s top-ranked archer Deepika Kumari started with a bang in the Women’s individual event at the Rio Olympics 2016. The 22-year-old defeated World no.8 Kristine Esebua of Georgia 6-4 to qualify for the round-of-32.
Deepika started with an 8 and the Georgian followed it up with an 8 for herself. The Indian then got a perfect 10, to which the Georgian replied with a 9, giving Deepika a one-point lead. The Indian then got a 9, leaving Esebua needing 10 points to win. The Georgian could only manage a 9, and Deepika took the set and earned 2 set-points to get a 2-0 led.
With the rain pouring down, the conditions were definitely difficult for archers but none of them showed any signs of slowing down. Esebua scored a perfect 10 and Deepika followed it up with a perfect 10 for herself. The Georgian was under pressure but she scored another 10, which Deepika equalised by scoring 10.
The Georgian scored a 9 on her next shot and Deepika scored a 9 as well, which meant the set ended in a tie and both were awarded 1 point each.
Esebua started the third set with a 10, and Deepika equalised the scores with a 10 for herself. The Georgian then scored a 9 and Deepika followed it up with a 10 to take the lead. In her third shot, Esebua managed an 8 only and Deepika got the third 10 of the set and took a 5-1 lead.
The match went into the fourth set, which Esebua started with a 10. Deepika scored a 9 and the Georgian got a 9 in her second shot, which Deepika followed up with a 9 again. Esebua scored a 10 on her third shot and virtually won the set. The scoreboard now read 5-3.
The last set started with the Georgian scoring a perfect 10 and Deepika followed it up with a 10 for herself. Esebua then scored another 10 to increase the pressure on Deepika, but the Indian, unperturbed, equalised with a 10. Esebua then scored a 9 and Deepika scored a 9 to tie the set and qualify for the next round with scoreboard reading 6-4 in her favour.
Deepika will now face Guendalina Sartori of Italy in the round-of-32 at 1.57am IST.
