Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur bow out to mark medal-less campaign for Indian archers at Paris Olympics

Veteran Indian archer Deepika Kumari on Saturday went down to South Korea’s Nam Su-Hyeon in the quarter-final of the women’s individual archery competition of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday. The 30 year-old lost to the South Korean teenager with a 4-6 scoreline. This means India’s archery campaign at the Paris Olympics has come to an end.

Earlier on Saturday, India’s Bhajan Kaur had lost to Diananda Choirunisa of Indonesia with a 5-6 scoreline in the women’s 1/8 elimination round.

Nam Su-Hyeon began the contest with a 10 in the first set, whereas Deepika scored a nine in her first attempt. Deepika, though, gained a one-point lead after she scored a 10 in her next attempt, whereas her Korean opponent scored eight. Su-Hyeon scored yet another eight in third attempt of the first set, whereas Deepika scored nine to win the first set 28-26. This enabled the Ranchi-born athlete to lead the contest with an overall score of 2-0.

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Deepika, however, allowed her opponent to bounce back n the second set. The Indian got a 10 in her first attempt of the second set, but managed only a six in her second attempt, whereas Nam got a 10. Both Nam and Deepika got nine each in the third attempt of the second set, which the latter lost with a score of 25-28.

The match got interesting with the scores tied at 2-2. Deepika retained the lead at the end of the third set with a couple of 10s, and the score was 4-2, raising hopes of Deepika progressing further. In the fourth set as well, the Asian Games bronze medallist managed to score a couple of 10s, but at the expense of a seven in between. That setback for Deepika allowed her opponent to level scores at 4-4, setting up for an exciting fifth set showdown.

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In the fifth set, Nam opened with a score of 10, whereas Deepika managed just nine. Both the archers registered scores of nine in the second attempt of the fifth set as well, and to keep her hopes alive, Deepika had to score a 10 in her final attempt. However, that was not meant to be, as Nam sealed the contest with a 10 as opposed to Deepika’s nine in the final attempt of the fifth and final set. That final attempt from Nam proved to be decisive enough, with the Korean advancing to the semi-finals with a hard-fought win.