Asian Games archery: Deepika falters to end 4th, Yun Ok Hee takes gold (Intro roundup)

GUANGZHOU - Sixteen-year-old Deepika Kumari of India missed a medal by finishing fourth after losing the semi-final contest against top seed Yun Ok Hee of South Korea and then the bronze play-off opposite North Korea’s Kwon Un Sil.

India’s second entry Rimil Buriuly went down in the second round to Chinese Taipei’s Tan Ya Ting, who was later eliminated by Deepika in the quarter-finals.

The Commonwealth Games’ individual gold medallist Deepika had no problem in beating Rand Almazhhadani of Iraq 5-1 in the first round. Playing Erwina Safitri of Indonesia in the pre-quarterfinals, the Indian seemed inconsistent but survived the round, thanks to her opponent’s bout of nervousness that forced her to spray her final end of three arrows all over the target board.

Deepika won 7-3 and took on Ting in the quarterfinals and came through unscathed 6-4. Yet, the Indian was prone to inconsistencies which came to the fore playing a world class archer in the semi-finals.

Yun, who had set three Games’ record in the qualifying rounds on the opening day, hit 8, 10x, 9 for a total of 27 points in the first end of three arrows.

Deepika’s reply was 9, 8, 7 for a total of 24. The first set and two points went to Yun.

Deepika was better in the second set yet she lost it by a point. Yun came up with 9, 10, 9 (28) as against the Indian’s 10, 8, 9 (27).

Deepika wrested the third set and two points with 10, 9, 10 (29) for Yun’s 8, 10, 9 (27). As Deepika began to gain confidence came the match-clinching display by Yun who had 10, 10x, 10x (30). Deepika needed to match that to tie the score but her 10, 9, 10 (29) gave Yun two points and a place in the final.

Having lost in the semi-finals, Deepika had another chance to win at least a bronze medal where too she came a cropper. She lost 2-6, the set score being (Deepika first) 25-27, 26-28, 29-26, 26-28.

Rimil won against Zahra Dehghanabnavi of Iran 4-0 in the first round but went down without a fight against Tan Ya Ting of Chinese Taipei 2-6.

Yun won 6-0 in the final against Chinese Cheng Ming. The set score was 27-25, 28-27 and 28-27 in favour of the Korean.

The men’s individual elimination round will be played Wednesday. Two Indians, Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai, are in fray.