Archery: End of Olympics journey for Indian men

It was the end of campaign for the Indian men archers as Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai bowed out from the prequarterfinals at the Olympic Games at the historic Lord’s cricket ground here Tuesday. Jayanta Talukdar and woman archer Chekrovolu Swuro had made a first round exit earlier in the day. Banerjee and Rai raised hopes with their win the first round. Banerjee blanked out Mongolian Jantsan Gantugs 6-0 and Rai defeated Cuban Juan Carlos Stevens in an one arrow shoot-off after they were tied at 5-5. But Banerjee’s joy was shortlived as he went down to Rafal Dobrowolski of Poland 3-7 in the second knock-out round tie later in the day. Banerjee could have made the score tied at 5-5, but for two poor eights with his last two shots that sealed his fate. [caption id=“attachment_399176” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Getty Images[/caption] Rai went down 2-6 to South Korean Kim Bubmin in the pre-quarterfinal. It was a close first set, which the Indian lost 26-27. But the South Korean produced a perfect second set to win 30-28. The Indian forced his way back into the match in the third set, shooting two 9s and a perfect x, winning it 28-25. Bubmin, however, snatched the fourth set shooting two 10s and a eight for a score of 28-26. Earlier, Talukdar and Swuro lost to their respective American opponents in contrasting fashion to exit the competition. Talukdar got a 0-6 hammering from America’s Jacob Wukie in the opening men’s individual elimination round while Swuro was sent packing after being pipped in the shoot-off by Jennifer Nichols. Jayanta was outplayed by Wukie, who won the silver for the US in the team event. The American shot six 10 pointers in the maximum nine arrows while Jayanta was able to hit the bulls-eye just once. The writing was on the wall in the first set in which Jayanta shot a five before losing it 22-27. In the women’s Eliminator, the score was 5-5 going into the shoot-off, where a single arrow on either side decides the tie. Both Nichols and Swuro shot a nine but the American had the last laugh as her arrow was found closer to the centre of the target. Swuro’s shooting had been erratic in the team event and the same was the case Tuesday morning at Lord’s. She scored four tens to her opponent’s two but could not deliver in crucial moments. The Nagaland archer needed a 10 to win the fifth and final set. But the occasion got the better of her as she waited and trembled before managing a six. Indian men’s team went out of medal reckoning event after losing their opening eliminator to Japan. The highly-rated women were humbled by Denmark in their first knock-out match. IANS