SAG: Talukdar knocked out

The 26-year-old finished third (only two per country qualify in each category) with a total score of 665. In fact, Talukdar had stood first in the selection trials held at the same venue last month.

SHILLONG, MEGHALAYA, 03/02/2016: Indian compound archers Abhishek Verma (right) and Rajat Chauhan during a practice session in Shillong on February 03, 2016, ahead of the 12th South Asian Games. Photo: M. Moorthy

The archery competition witnessed a major upset as one of India’s top recurve archers Jayanta Talukdar failed to qualify for the elimination round.

The 26-year-old finished third (only two per country qualify in each category) with a total score of 665. In fact, Talukdar had stood first in the selection trials held at the same venue last month.

Tarundeep Rai (676) and Gurucharan Besra (666) made the grade in recurve event.

In the women’s recurve category, India’s Deepika Kumari and Bombayla Devi Laishram, qualified for the knock-out round. India’s emerging stars, Purvasha Sudhir Shende and Jyoti Surekha, qualified for the main round with scores of 686 and 684 respectively in the women’s compound event.

As expected, Rajat Chauhan and Abhishek Verma of India made it to the main draw of men’s compound.

Badminton and table tennis competitions will begin on Saturday, with the team events. The TT team finals will be on February 7 and the singles finals on February 10 while the team finals for badminton will be on February 8 and the singles summit clash is scheduled on February 10.