Indian women qualify for Rio Games, in final

New Delhi: The Indian women’s recurve team earned an Olympic quota for the 2016 Rio Games after entering the final while the men’s trio failed to advance after squandering a handsome lead at the archery World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday.

 

Pitted against seventh seeds Germany, the 10th seed Indian trio of Deepika Kumari, Laxmi Rani Majhi and Rimil Buriuly showed nerves of steel to bounce back from 1-3 to coast to a 5-3 win and make the last eight — the yardstick for making the Olympics cut.

 

However, the experienced men’s team of Rahul Banerjee, Mangal Singh Champia and Jayanta Talukdar suffered a heartbreak, squandering a 4-2 lead before losing 26-29 to second seeds Italy in a thrilling tiebreaker.

 

Banerjee, Talukdar and Champia can still earn individual berths by finishing among 32 when the individual section that gets under way on Wednesday.

 

In the quarter-final, the 10th seed Indian women’s team defeated Colombia before beating Japan in the tie-break in the semi-final.

 

The Indian women’s team will now face Russia in the summit clash on Sunday.