Tokyo Olympics 2020: Deepika Kumari finishes ninth in ranking round; South Korea's An San shatters Olympic record

Tokyo: Star Indian archer Deepika Kumari finished ninth in the women’s individual ranking round as the country’s Olympic campaign kickstarted at the Yumenoshima Park on Friday. The world No.1 finished with 663 points, while talented 20-year-old Korean prodigy An San (680) topped the qualification round with an Olympic record score of 680. The performances will determine the seedings for the elimination rounds. The previous Olympic record score in the individual ranking round was 673, while the world record (692) is held by Kang Chae Wong, the world No.3 who finished third with 675 points for a Korean top-three in the qualification round. Jang Minhee (677) finished second for the Koreans. Deepika shot perfect 10s and X (closest to the centre) 30 times from her 72 arrows, while An San, who had defeated the Indian in straight sets in the final of the Tokyo Test Event in 2019, shot 36 10s and X. The qualifying round results are used to seed the athletes and nations for the individual, mixed team and team competitions, deciding their opponents in the competition. Archers shoot 72 arrows at the target set 70 metres away, in 12 series of six arrows. They are ranked from highest to lowest at the end of the round. An archer’s position after the ranking round becomes their seed for matchplay.