Indian recurve archers return medal-less from Asiad

After a disappointing campaign in the individual recurve events, the onus was on the teams to make up for the poor show, but it was not to be.

Archers Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das after being eliminated from the mixed-team recurve event on Friday.

India’s recurve archers will return empty-handed from the 18th Asian Games as both the men’s and women’s squads crashed out in the quarterfinals of the team events in Jakarta on Saturday.

After a disappointing campaign in the individual recurve events, the onus was on the teams to make up for the poor show, but it was not to be.

The Indian women’s team lost 2-6 to formidable Chinese Taipei. The squad, represented by Ankita Bhakat, Promila Daimary and Deepika Kumari, lost 0-2 0-2 2-0 0-2 to the trio of Chien-Ying Lei, Chia-Mao Peng and Yating Tan.

The Indian women had defeated Mongolia 5-3 in the previous round.

It was a similar script for the men’s recurve team as well as it lost 1-5 to favourites Korea in the quarterfinals.

The men’s team of Jagdish Choudhary, Atanu Das and Viswash started brightly to hold the Korean trio of Woojin Kim, Wooseok Lee and Jinhyek Oh 1-1 in the first set before the Koreans up their ante to pocket the next two sets with identical 2-0 margin and seal a place in the semifinals.

The Indian men had defeated Vietnam 5-3 in the previous round to set up a clash against the Koreans.