Star archer Deepika Kumari failed to impress in the qualifying round in her much-awaited comeback, finishing 37th ahead of Ankita Bhakta. World Cup Stage 3 here on Wednesday.
The world’s number three Deepika, who was making her India Returning from the Tokyo Olympics defeat last year, she scored a disappointing 638 in the 72-arrow qualification round, 37 points behind Korean Lee Gahyun, who took pole position in the women’s recurve category.
Her poor ranking meant Deepika got a tough draw as the former world number one will face 2016 Rio Olympic team gold medalist Korean Choi Misun in a possible second round. Dipika will take on Italy’s Chiara Rebagliati in her first round.
The three-time Olympian was the picture of inconsistency. After starting with four 10’s including two X’s (nearest center) and one 9, Dipika hit the black ring (4) and even missed the final arrow of the fifth.
There was more disappointment for him as he ended the first half by shooting twice in the red ring (7-7). At the halfway mark, she could only manage 323 points.
Also, she shot 18 perfect 10s at the halfway mark, just one behind Ghyun, something that was the essence of Deepika’s inconsistency that day.
Under pressure, Dipika slipped further in the final set of 36 arrows, where she scored just 315 points after hitting five 7s and a 6 to end the qualifying round. His 11 in the final half was part of the perfect 10.
Ranked 31st, Ankita (644) was the best among Indian women, as she teamed up with 27th-ranked Tarundeep Rai (670), both ranked 13th.
Praveen Jadhav, who made a comeback from his Tokyo Olympics loss, finished 30th with 668 points, while veteran Jayant Talukdar (667) finished 32nd as the recurve men’s team secured eight seedings in a draw.
The recurve women’s team has slipped to the 13th position.
Earlier, the Indian women’s compound team lost to France in the bronze play-off, while the men’s team crashed out of the quarter-finals after losing to Turkey.
World Championships silver medalist Jyothi Surekha Vennam raised hopes of a second-place finish as the women’s trio of Jyothi, Priya Gurjar and Muskan Kirar lost 228-231 to Britain in the semi-finals.
Fighting for bronze, the team lost a two-point lead to a 231–233 loss to their French opponents Sophie Dodemont, Lola Grandjean and Sandra Hervé.
After getting a bye in the quarter-finals, the third seeded Indian women’s team started with a 230–227 win over their Brazilian rivals.
The men’s team of Abhishek Verma, Mohan Bhardwaj and Aman Saini started with a 234–232 win over South Africa, but suffered a one point loss 234–235 against Turkey.
read all breaking news , today’s fresh news watch top videos And live TV Here.