It was hardly the kind of start Indian archers would have wanted to their Olympics campaign. At the Yumenoshima Park in Tokyo on Friday, world No.1 Deepika Kumari was inconsistent and the male archers hardly made an impact in the ranking rounds, prompting a change in India's mixed pair combination.
India decided to go ahead with Pravin Jadhav as Deepika’s mixed team partner instead of Atanu Das.
“The decision was taken since Jadhav finished at a better position than Das,” a source in the Archery Association of India (AAI) said.
Jadhav and Deepika had never played as a team before. “We picked Jadhav based on his current form, it’s no rocket science,” he added. India will take on Chinese Taipei next.
Deepika, who finished 9th, will face Karma from Bhutan in the round of 64 and will be in line for a potential quarter final against top seed An San from Korea.
The South Koreans, who stayed away from all international competitions in the build-up to the Olympics since 2019, reigned supreme, including a top-three finish in the women’s section where young sensation San shattered a 25-year-old Olympic record.
The Indian men’s team of Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai just about managed to sneak into top 10 in the team rankings.
Deepika slipped from fourth at the halfway mark to finish ninth with 663 points, which was way below her best international ranking score of 686.
“I feel my performance was good as well as bad...it was in between I would say,” Deepika said. “I want to show my best performance here and I will show that in my next rounds.”
India may face Korea in the quarters of both the men’s team and mixed pair competitions. The mixed team is the country’s best bet to win an elusive Olympic medal in archery.
Jadhav was the best among the Indian trio with 656 points for a 31st place finish, three points ahead of Das, while Rai, in his third Olympics appearance, took the 37th spot among 64 archers.
In the individual section, Jadhav will face 34th-ranked Galsan Bazarzhapov of Russia, Das will take on Deng Yu-Cheng of Chinese Taipei, while Rai’s opening challenge will be against Ukranian Oleksii Hunbin.
