It would be a clean sweep by the host, India, as it has reached the finals in all four individual archery events: recurve (men and women) & compound (men and women), in the 12th South Asian Games.
In the Olympic year, so much is at stake for the Indian archery men’s and women’s recurve teams. While the women’s team has already qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics, it is still not certain as to who the three archers would be at Rio, as five more selection trials remain to pick the final three.
On the other hand, the country's men’s team hasn’t yet made the grade for Rio, but will get a final chance at the third World Cup in Turkey in June. If it fails to make the cut in Turkey, one male archer could make the cut from the trials.
With so much on their minds, it would have been difficult for them to concentrate in the South Asian Games. But this has not stopped them from putting their best foot forward.
Like India’s number one women’s archer Deepika Kumari, who maintained her focus in tough weather conditions, on Saturday, to beat Sonam Deki (Bhutan) 6-2 and Beauty Ray of Bangladesh 6-0 to enter the final. The 21-year-old will meet country-mate Bombayla Devi on February 9. “The weather conditions made things quite difficult,” admitted Deepika.
TT teams enter last four
Meanwhile, the Indian table tennis men’s team qualified for the semi-finals with identical 3-0 wins over Bangladesh and Nepal in Group A. The Indian women, too, qualified for the last four with 3-0 wins over Pakistan and Maldives from Group A.
Badminton team also in semis
The Indian men’s badminton team reached the semi-finals with 3-0 wins over Maldives and Bangladesh in Group ‘A’, without losing a game.
Results (Indians unless otherwise mentioned):
Archery - Recurve
Men: (Semi-finals): Tarundeep Rai bt Prem Prasad Pun (Nep) 6-2; Gurucharan Besra bt Nipuna Senevirathne (SRL) 7-3; (Quarter-finals): Tarundeep bt Kinly Tshering (SRL) 6-5; Prem Prasad bt Md. Tamumul Ishlam (Ban) 6-0; Nipuna Senevirathne (SRL) bt Sojeb Shiek (Ban) 6-4; Guruchuran bt Jigme Norbu (Bhu) 7-1.
Women: (Semi-finals): Deepika Kumari bt Beauty Ray (Ban) 6-0; L. Bombayla Devi bt Karma (Bhu) 6-2; (Quarter-finals): Deepika bt Sonam Deki (Bhu) 6-2; Beauty Ray bt Dilhara Salgado (SRL) 6-5; Karma bt Shamoli Ray (Ban) 6-5; Bombayla bt Anuradha Karunaratne (SRL) 6-5.
Compound
Men: (Semi-finals): Abhishek Verma bt Tshewang Dorji (Bhu) 148-135; Rajat Chauhan bt Tashi Deljor (Bhu) 145-142;
Women: Jyothi Surekha Vennam bt Sushmita Banik (Ban) 145-134; Purvasha Sudhir Shende bt Tammanna Parvin (Ban) 139-133.
Table Tennis
Men: Group A: Stage 1: India bt Bangladesh 3-0; India bt Nepal 3-0.
‘B’: Sri Lanka bt Maldives 3-0; Pak. bt Afghanistan 3-0; Sri Lanka bt Pak. 3-1; Maldives bt Pak. 3-2.
Women: Group A: India bt Maldives 3-0; India bt Pakistan 3-0.
‘B’: Sri Lanka bt Bangladesh 3-0; Afghanistan bt Nepal 3-0; Sri Lanka bt Nepal 3-1; Bangladesh bt Afghanistan 3-0.
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