Rio 2016: Indian Archery team loses to Russia in Quarterfinals

Rio de Janeiro: To a shock to Indian sports lovers and women’s Archery team, India faced a defeat in the hands of Russia in the quarterfinal match of the Rio Olympics Games at the Sambodromo in Rio de Janeiro of Brazil.

Indian Archery team comprising of Deepika Kumari, Laxmirani Majhi and Bombalya Devi ended up losing by two points (23-25) in the shootout against the world champions.

What went wrong for Indian Archery team:

• The Indian women Archers started well and scored 28 in their first three arrows with Deepika hitting 10 but the team lost the first set 48-55.
• India secured victory in second set of the game (53-52) with Bombalya and Laxmirani hitting 10 and Deepika hitting a nine.
• India lost the third set 50-53. Bombalya’s second 10- pointer was followed by Laxmirani hitting nine and Deepika adding 9 more, while the first arrow in the third set hit bulls eye for Russia. The second arrow of the Russian archers found the outer ring and they secured 8 in the final arrow as the wind became more intense.
• Russians shot a total of 28 in the fourth set which was followed by Indian archers scoring a total of 24 (Bombalya scored 8, Laxmirani hit 7 and Deepika scored 9) and with this the world champions Russia managed to edge the set 55-53 to make it 4-4 overall and creating a situation for shootout.

The shootout:

• Another bull’s eye gave Russia a great start in the shootout which was followed by 7 from Bombalya.
• The second attempt of the shootout proved poor with a score of 6 but Indian Laxmirani managed to hit 8 that gave Russia a lead of one.
• Russia managed just 9 from the last arrow that raised the hope of win in Indian team but needing a 10-pointer, Deepika scored just 8.

Individual events:

The three women archers from India will compete for their individual events on the following dates:

• Laxmirani on August 8,
• Bombalya on Auigust 10 and
• Deepika onAugust 11.

Earlier, Indian trio had thumped Colombia by 5-3.

Also Read: Rio: Indian women Hockey team plays draw with Japan