Deepika holds off young American on windy day
NEW DELHI: On the day a tropical storm hit northern Japan, temperatures soared, the air swished in Tokyo, taking the wind speeds to as high as 18km/ hour, and the world’s best archers, participating in the individual elimination rounds at the Yumenoshima Final Field, often found themselves in disarray.
More than 15 of those competing on Wednesday struck wayward 6s, more than 10 shot wild 5s, and one even shot a disastrous 4.
Amid the sweltering and swirling conditions that produced some low-scoring encounters, a nervy Deepika Kumari managed to maintain her poise — in the game and the mind — to advance to the Round of 16 on Wednesday. Her male counterparts, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai, crashed out earlier in the day.
Getting past Bhutanese Karma in the opener was to be a mere formality, and it was. The world No. 1 Indian blanked her 6-0 (26-23, 26-23, 27-24). A little over half an hour later, Kumari returned to take on American teenager Jennifer Mucino-fernandez, who had lost in the second round at last month’s Paris World Cup, where Kumari won the gold.
Kumari felt the challenging conditions early on, shooting a 7 to begin with as the American sandwiched a 10 between her 9 and 7 to take the opening set 26-25.
Upset alert? Not really.
The 27-year-old Indian fired a couple of 10s to run away with the second set (28-25), and opened the third with another 10, followed by 9 and 8, enough to win it 27-25 and take the lead in the match. But just as it looked like the contest was settled, out came a misdirected 6 from Kumari from the second arrow, which handed Mucino-fernandez the set 25-24. Locked at 4-4, the nerves on the faces of the experienced Indian and the young American were as palpable as the wind. Kumari shot a couple of 9s and an 8, leaving the US teen with a 10 to get off her final shot to force a shoot-off. The arrow rested on 9.
“Maybe I was nervous and was not able to adjust to the tricky wind conditions,” Kumari said after the win. “I tried very hard, and that was the reason I could not get consistent scores,” she said.
Inconsistency was what cost Jadhav in his second round after stunning the current world No. 2 Galsan Bazarzhapov of Russia in straight sets (29-27, 28-27, 28-24) after firing 10s in four of his nine shots of the opening round. Up against the top-ranked Ellison Brady, the 25-year-old again shot a couple of 10s but also an equal number of 7s against the more solid American, who won 28-27, 27-26, 26-23.
The 37-year-old Rai, meanwhile, had a more dramatic exit in the second round, losing to Israel’s Itay Shanny in a one-shot shoot-off after a 5-5 tie. Shanny hit the sweet 10 spot to Rai’s 9. Rai had beaten Oleksii Hunbin of Ukraine 6-4 in his first round.
Kumari will compete in her Round of 16 match on Friday.