Archery World Cup: India crash out of recurve team events

Vijayawada-based international archer Dhiraj Bommadevara won silver and bronze medals at the World Cup Stage I recently.
| Photo Credit: K.V.S. Giri

It was a familiar script for Indian archers as they were eliminated by heavyweights Korea in the quarterfinals of the men’s recurve team event in the World Cup Stage 1 here on May 18.

The Indian trio of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Atanu Das and Neeraj Chauhan suffered a lopsided 0-6 (54-55, 56-57, 54-59) defeat at the hands of the top-seeded Korean team of Lee Woo Seok, Kim Je Deok and Kim Woojin.

The eighth seeded Indian men’s recurve team began its campaign with a hard-fought 5-3 (57-57, 56-58, 57-56, 58-51) win over Chinese Taipei.

The women’s trio of Simranjeet Kaur, Avneet Kaur and Ankita Bhakat, which got the fourth seeding in team qualification, put up a sloppy show to make a first-round exit.

They lost out to lower-ranked Indonesia 1-5 (54-57, 57-57, 50-52) in a one-sided affair.

In the recurve team events, Indian hopes will now rest on the mixed pair duo of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Simranjeet Kaur.

By virtue of finishing fifth in qualifiers, they have got a bye into the second round (pre-quarterfinals) in the recurve mixed team draw of 32.