London Olympics: Men archers disappoint, Deepika gives a ray of hope by finishing eighth in ranking round

After a disheartening show by the India’s men archers, Deepika Kumari, though not as expected, put up a decent show for the women's recurve knockout rounds, as she finished eighth in a field of 64, on the opening day of the Games at the Lord's cricket ground on Friday. Deepika , who fired eight Xs (bull's eye) and 25 10s, tallied 662 points, says a report in The Times Of India.

“In the round of 32, the Indian world No. 1 will face Amy Oliver of Britain, who finished 57th with a total of 608 points. Of the other two Indians in fray, L Bombayla Devi finished 22nd with a total of 651 while Chekrovolu Swuro ended 50th with 625. The trio's combined tally of 1938 got India ninth place, with South Korea (1993) topping the ranking round. India will take on Denmark in the pre-quarters on Saturday as only the top four teams move directly into the quarters. The women's team gold will be decided on Sunday while the individual medal round is on August 3,” adds the report.

According to a report in The Indian Express, qualifying as the 12th and last-placed in the team event, the Indian trio imploded in the most glum fashions on Day 1, finishing a good 40-45 combined points below their peak scores.

“Tarundeep Rai out-performed Rahul Banerjee and Jayant Talukdar, but it was quite simply a rout in perfect conditions. The archers suffering from after-effects of a viral seemed listless and admitted that grave mistakes were made, as they failed to stem a meltdown. It didn’t help that most other teams improved upon their best scores, making the Indian disappointment seem starker — and odd. Still, heading into Saturday, the men’s trio run into Japan who they’ve beaten most times, but crucially not the last time when they qualified for the Olympics at Ogden, where the Indians lost out by two points. The scene will still count as bleak, for should they beat Japan, they’re up against a red-hot Korean troika, two of whom managed world records on Friday,” says the report.

Meanwhile The Hindu reports that the archery medals looked a distant dream, even before the opening ceremony of the Olympics, as world No. 1 Deepika Kumari shot 662 and finished eighth while the Indian women were placed ninth among 12 teams in the ranking round at the Nursery ground of Lord’s here on Friday.

The women’s team’s performance was actually better than that of the men’s side, which finished 12th and last earlier in the day. It may have been a mere ranking round, but the poor fare landed the team in trouble. For a team that had beaten Korea in the last world championship before settling for the silver, the Indian team logged 1938 points to Korea’s 1993, which placed the Olympic champion right on top of the table.