Rahul maintain lead on a day of stiff competition

Kolkata, June 14 (UNI) The race for the berths in the Indian team for the 44th World Archery Championship intensified with top archers qualifying for the super eight round of the 3rd National ranking prize money tournament at the SAI even as Rahul Banerjee maintained the lead at the Eastern Centre, here today.

The penultimate date of the four-day championship, sponsored by Mittal Trust, saw some scintillating performance by the lesser-known archers to pip the hot favourites but the big guns blazed at the right time to take a firm step towards making it to the Indian team.

The most covered event of the tournament was men's recurve where Rahul Banerjee of Steel Plant was ranked first till the end of the two Olympic round qualifiers that concluded today.

With 120 points he stood first that included 37 points he garnered so far in this tournament and his 83 points he carried over from the Hyderabad and Pune ranking meets.

Banerjee, who stood first in the two FITA rounds was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the first Olympic round qualifier and in the semifinals of the second.

Tarundeep Rai of Services too did not f are well in the Olympic knockout qualifier yet he continued to occupy the second spot with 102 points. Priyank of Uttar Pradesh was third with 98.

In the women's recurve, Dola Banerjee of Railways continued to hog the limelight by logging 79 points. She was followed by Chekrovolu Swuro of Nagaland with 71. L. Bombayla Devi of Railway was third with 59 points.

Jayantilal Nanoma of Rajasthan was the leader going into the super eight of the men's compound bow category. He had 118.5 points.

Ch. Leni of AP (107) and Chungda Sherpa of Services (101) was third.

Jhano Hansdah of Jharkhand, despite dominating the ladies compound bow section, lost to Bheigyabati Chanu of Jharkhand in the second Olympic qualifier. Yet she maintained the lead with 71 point.

Chanu was second with 61 and Sweety Kumari, also of Jharkhand was third with 42 points.

The following qualified for the Super Eight round to be held tomorrow : Recurve, men: 1. Rahul Banerjee (SPSB) 120 points, 2. Tarundeep Rai (Ser) 102, 3. Priyank (UP) 98, 4. Somai MUrmu (Ser) 96, 5. Mangal Singh (Rly) 94, 6. Jayanta Talukdar (SPSB) 92, 7. Harish Kerai (Ser) 87, 8. Vishwash (Ser) 83.

Women: 1. Dola Banerjee (Rly) 79, 2. Chekrovolu Swuro (Nag) 71, 3. L. Bombayla Devi (Rly) 59, 4. Sushma (UP) 52, 5. Punya Prabha (UP) 52, 6. Reena Kumari (Rly) 47, 7. Ranu (UP) 25.

Compound bow, men: 1. Jayantilal Nanoma (Raj) 118.5 points, 2. Ch. Lenin (AP) 107, 3. Chungda Sherpa (Ser) 101, 4. Palton Hansda (Ser) 101, 5. Rajwant Singh (Del) 97, 6. Isaiah Sanam (AP) 88, 7. Ratan Kumar (Ser) 76, 8. Baban Kumar (Ser) 71.

Women: 1. Jhano Hansdah (Jhar) 71, 2. Bheigyabati Chanu (Jhar) 61, 3. Sweety Kumari (Jhar) 42, 4. Namita Yadav (Jhar) 40, 5. Sumanlata Murmu (Jhar) 37, 6. Manjudha Soy (Jhar) 34, 7. Renu Munda (Har) 18.

UNI