Rio Olympics: Indian women's archery team go down in QF against Russia, challenge ends

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 7: The Indian women's archery team's challenge in the Rio Olympics 2016 came to an end after the Indian trio of Deepika Kumari, L Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi lost in the quarter-final in shoot-offs against Russia on Sunday.

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India levelled the 4 set game against Russian archers but failed to perform in the shoot-off round. India lost in the shoot-offs by 23-25 to their Russian counterparts.

The Indians, who had clinched a silver in the 2015 World Championships, turned in an inconsistent show to lose 23-25 in the shoot-off after both teams were locked 4-4 on points, having won two sets each.

The Russians, who had won the World Championships last year, will take on Italy in the semi-finals.

(Rio Olympics 2016 Day 3 (August 7): India's schedule in Brazil)

Laishram Bombayla Devi was the best performer on the day with a series of consistent attempts. Her efforts, however, went in vain as teammates Laxmirani Manjhi and Deepika Kumari were a tad too inconsistent.

Manjhi in particular was not in the best of form and registered poor scores at crucial junctures that ultimately cost the Indians the match.

Among the Russians, Ksenia Perova was the standout performer with Inna Stepanova and Tuiana Dashidorzhieva also coming up with consistent performances.

The Russians enjoyed the better start, taking the first set 55-48. The Indians hit back immediately, narrowly winning the second set with a 53-52 margin.

They took the lead soon after by winning the third set 53-50. But the Russians held their nerve to pull level by clinching the fourth and final set 55-54 despite a strong fight back by India to take the issue into the shoot-off.

Earlier, the Indians progressed to the quarter-finals, beating Colombia 205-197.

The Indian trio started well leading the first set 52-51 with one inner 10 while Colombia managed to hit the bull's eye twice.

In the second set, the Colombian trio of Carolina Aguirre, Maria Ana Rendon and Natalia Sanchez bounced back well to draw level with the scoreline reading 50-49. The set witnessed both the sides scoring three 9s.

The third set witnessed stiff competition from both the sides and ended 52-52. Both sides managed to hit the bull's eye once while India hit three 9s in reply to Colombia's four 9s.

India came out fighting in the final set with four 9s to total 52 before Colombia panicked under pressure to manage only 44, giving India passage to the last-16 stage.

IANS