Rio 2016: Indian women miss the mark in archery

Rio de Janeiro: India’s story of woes continued as the country’s 100-plus contingent continued to struggle in the face of world-class competition in archery.

The Indian women’s archery team progressed to the quarter-finals before losing to Russia in a shoot-off and made their exit while the hockey squad fought back to hold Japan to a 2-2 draw.

The team of Laishram Bombayla Devi, Laxmirani Majhi and Deepika Kumari made the quarters of the recurve event by edging out Colombia 5-3 in a Round of 16 match.

This was the first time the women archers had advanced to round two after their poor display in London four years ago when Denmark ousted them in round one. Bombayla and Deepika were part of that team.

The trio then faced 2012 Games semifinalists Russia, bouncing back after losing the opening set before the two teams level-pegged to force the tie-breaker in which the Russian women showed better nerves even as the Indian trio lost the plot to lose it 23-25 and be eliminated.

On Monday, Laxmirani Majhi also bowed out of the individual recurve event when she was eliminated in the race for the pre-quarterfinals by her Alexandra Long-ova of Slovakia.

Majhi just could not raise her level of marksmanship and lost the contest 1-7, losing three sets and drawing another. Deepika and Bombayla Devi will take the field in individual elimination round of 32 clash on August 10.