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World primary archer Deepika Kumari survived some anxious moments earlier than getting previous US teenager Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez 6-4 to sail into the pre-quarterfinals of the ladies’s particular person part and hold Indian medal hopes alive on the Tokyo Olympics right here on Wednesday.
On a day her teammates Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav made second spherical exits, Deepika appeared to really feel the strain initially as she began off hitting the red-zone, capping a poor seven on the floodlit Yumenoshima Park.
Deepika misplaced the primary set by one level however she bounced again strongly with three 10s in a row to take a 4-2 lead. She, nonetheless, did not wrap up the match within the fourth set as she misfired a six in her second arrow.
The 18-year-old American made it 4-4, profitable the set by one-point (25-24). Within the winner-takes-all fifth set, Deepika had two 9s to start out with earlier than ending with a poor 8.
Needing a ten in her final arrow to power a shoot-off, Jennifer signed off with a 9 in what was a promising marketing campaign for the American teenager.
Deepika’s husband Atanu Das is the one different Indian left within the fray. The India No 1, who slipped to thirty fifth place within the rating, begins his marketing campaign in opposition to Deng Yu-Cheng of Chinese language Taipei in his opening spherical of 64 match on Thursday.
Earlier, Deepika sailed into the second spherical with a facile 6-0 win over lower-ranked Karma of Bhutan in her opening match.
World quantity 193 Karma, the flag bearer of Bhutan—a rustic the place archery is nationwide sport—throughout the opening ceremony, had poor scores of 23, 23 and 24 within the third set the place she managed a ten.
The Indian additionally had a sluggish begin, scoring 26 every within the first two units, earlier than she picked up with a 27 to seal her last-32 berth.
Olympic debutant Jadhav knocked out world quantity 2 Galsan Bazarzhapov in his opening match solely to undergo a heavy defeat to world champion Brady Ellison within the second spherical.
The 25-year-old was at his greatest in his first spherical match, beating Bazarzhapov of Russian Olympic Committee in straight units. However, he couldn’t proceed his spectacular kind and succumbed to Ellison, the American world primary in his subsequent match.
Ellison too was atypical, particularly within the second and third units the place he misfired within the purple rings with two 8s, however Jadhav was depressing and hit two 7s and 8s in 4 arrows to affix his senior Military colleague Tarundeep Rai in making a second spherical exit.
Rai too had made a second spherical exit, happening to Itay Shanny of Israel in a good shoot-off end for a heartbreaking exit in his swansong Olympics.
Jadhav, who was the perfect Indian with a thirty first place within the rating spherical, had raised expectations for the misfiring Indian archers as he dropped only one level to win the primary set en path to a shocking 6-0 win in opposition to Bazarzhapov beneath windy circumstances on the Yumenoshima Park right here.
Contemporary from profitable the title on the Remaining Qualifier for Tokyo Video games in Paris final month, Bazarzhapov drilled in two 10s within the subsequent set. However the wind obtained the higher of him as he misfired his subsequent three arrows (7-8-7), whereas Jadhav remained unfazed and hit constantly within the 9-10 rings to seal the match.
A repeat of his first spherical scores of 29-28-27 would have been sufficient within the difficult second spherical conflict in opposition to Ellison who had a sequence of 28-27-26. However the inexperienced Jadhav regarded utterly out of types and shot 27-26-23 that snuffed out any little likelihood he had for advancing within the second spherical.
Earlier, Rai misplaced to Itay Shanny of Israel in a good shoot-off end for a heartbreaking second spherical exit in his final Olympics.
Each the gamers have been locked 5-5 however Shanny, who’s 15 years youthful to Rai, sealed the match 10-9 with an ideal rating within the shoot-off.
The world quantity 92 Israeli, who had knocked out Japanese staff occasion bronze medallist Muto Hiroki within the first spherical, was superior to the Indian on the loss of life as he shot three 10s from the ultimate 4 arrows to sail into the pre-quarterfinals.
This was the second successive spherical two exit for three-time Olympian Rai who had made his Video games debut at Athens 2004. In 2012 London Olympics too, Rai had misplaced within the second spherical.
The 37-year-old Military man, who had an exciting come-from-behind 6-4 win over Oleksii Hunbin of Ukraine within the first spherical, as soon as once more confirmed exceptional poise as he bounced again to guide 5-3 from a 0-2 deficit.
Needing a tie within the fifth set to maneuver into last-16, Rai faltered and Shanny gained the set by two factors, drilling in two 10s and a 9, as in opposition to the Indian’s sequence of 9-8-9.
An ideal 10 saved eluded Rai and the world quantity 54 began the proceedings within the shoot-off with a 9, whereas Shanny sealed the problem with a ten.
Rai was severely affected by wind as he shot a poor seven to lose the primary set by 4 factors earlier than levelling the match 2-2 by profitable the second set by slender margin of 1 level.
A sequence of six 9s by Shanny meant that Rai snatched a 5-3 lead however did not tie the fifth set. PTI
