Picture Credit: Twitter
The Indian contingent have kicked off their campaign in Tokyo Olympics 2021 with Archery. Although the opening ceremony took place later in the evening, the Archery rankings rounds concluded earlier in the day. It was a rather mixed outing for the Indian contingent as there were a few hit and misses on the opening day of Summer Games.
Team India participated in the following rankings rounds of Archery on Day 1:
1. Women's individual event
2. Men's individual event
3. Mixed team event
4. Men's team event
Deepika Kumari impresses on Day 1
One of India's major hope for a medal is archer Deepika Kumari. The 27-year-old kicked off her campaign in the women's individual rankings event on Friday. India's world no. 1 secured 663 points at the Yumenoshima Ranking Field and finished at 9th position in the end.
The archer had an impressive start as she accumulated 56, 55 and 56 points in the first three rounds. After a disappointing 51-point round, Deepika bounced back with back-to-back impressive returns of 59 and 57 points. In the second half, the archer registered 55, 53, 56, 58 and 53 points respectively to finish at 9th spot in the overall standings.
With her performance on Day 1, Deepika Kumari is now set to face World No. 193 Bhu Karma of Bhutan in the first round of women's individual event on July 28. Interestingly, the 27-year-old could be up against top-seeded An San from South Korea if both the archers go through the quarter finals.
Disappointing outing for male archers
It was a rather disappointing outing for male archers on Day 1 of men's individual event. Experienced archer Atanu Das finished with only 653 points and placed at 35th spot. Tarundeep Rai finished at 37th position with 652 points. The best-performing male archer for India was Pravin Jadhav who finished at 31st position with 656 points.
Talking about the team events, Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav finished at 9th spot with 1319 points. The duo will now be up against the Chinese Taipei's team of Tang Chih-chun and Lin Chia-en in 1/8 elimination round of Saturday. Meanwhile, the trio of Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav ended at 9th position in the rankings round with 1961 points. They will lock horns with Kazakhstan in the elimination round on Monday.