Thaindian News

By Bharat Sharma
New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) Four Indian archers reached the quarter finals of the individual recurve but the hosts’ challenge ended early in the compound event at the Commonwealth Games here Tuesday.

Jayanta Talukdar, siblings Rahul Banerjee and Dola Banerjee and Deepika Kumari reached the last eight with contrasting victories over their rivals at the Yamuna Sports Complex.

Laishram Bombayala Devi and Tarundeep Rai were the two losers in the recurve category.

The hosts, however, fared poorly in the compound event, with all three archers - Jhanu Hansda, Bheigyabati Chanu and Gagandeep Kaur - making an early exit from the competition.

In men’s recurve, Talukdar defeated Constantin Christodoulou of Cyprus 5-1 (54-54, 54-51, 58-52) in the pre-quarterfinals and would now face fancied English archer Simon Duncan Terry in the last eight.

In the same round, Rahul Banerjee beat Shek Sojeb of neighbouring Bangladesh 4-0 (58-53, 54-53). He will take on Aussie Mat Masonwells for a place in the semis. Tarundeep Rai lost against Chu Sian Cheng 0-4 (53-58, 52-55) in straight games.

The women’s event saw two out of the three Indian archers advance to the quarterfinals.

Deepika Kumari showed a high degree of concentration to storm past Liu Jie Tan Wendy of Singapore 4-0 (56-47, 54-45). In the quarter final, she will face Australia’s Alexandra Feeney, who knocked out local girl Bombayala Devi 4-2 (51-48, 51-52, 53-50) in a tight match .

Former world cup Grand final champion Dola Banerjee also had to fight hard to beat Ng Sui Kim of Singapore 4-2 (56-54, 53-54, 52-47) and will play Amy Lee Oliver of England next.

The individual quarterfinal matches are scheduled for Oct 10.

Meanwhile, Veteran Jhanu Hansda and Bheigyabati Chanu lost in the first round of the women’s compound event.

Gagandeep Kaur raised hopes when she upset Jorina Coetzee of South Africa 5-1 (55-55, 58-54, 55-54) in the first round. But the Punjab archer ultimately lost to World No.1 Nicky Hunt of England 2-4 (56-57, 59-56, 56-60) in the pre-quarterfinals.

The script was identical in the men’s compound contest. C. Srither and Ritul Chatterjee lost in the first round while C.H. Jignas went down in the pre-quarter-finals ending India’s chances of an individual medal in compound bow category.