Harpal Singh Bedi / Jakarta
Indian archers show the produced another flop show as the fancied mixed duo of Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das suffered a shock 4-5 defeat against Mongolia in the recurve quarter-finals in i the Asian Games here on Friday.
The compound team of Abhishek Verma and Jyoti Surekaha also failed as they lost to to Iranian pair of Nima Matbooe Mahboubi and Fereshteh Ghorbani 153-155.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Abhishek and Jyoti notched a 155-147 win against Iraq’s Fatima Saad Mahmood and Eshaq Ibrahim Mohammed. Much was expected from them in the quarter-finals, but a difference of three points in the third set saw the Indian pair lose out by just two points after they had a one-point lead in the opening set.
In a topsy-turvy battle in mixed recurve, Mongolians Bishindee Urantungalag and Otgobbold Baatarkhuya won the first set. Deepika and Atanu bagged the next two sets before Mongolia staged a superb comeback, forcing a shoot-off that they won. In the decider, they were neck-neck, hitting 10s in the first shot. The Mongolians found nine on the second while Deepika shot a seven and it was all over.
“I don’t know how and why it has happened,” said coach Sawaiyan Manjhi later. “I can’t believe this as there was nothing wrong in training, and they failed to convert opportunities into scores,” said Manjhi. “It’s an eye opener and I take the blame for this. I have no words for any excuse, but for sure we need to identify that what and why went wrong”.
Atanu didn’t agree that team wasn’t prepared well. “I don’t accept we were unprepared. But at the same time we don’t have any excuse for failure. Mistakes happen and it would continue too, and the best thing is that we learn from it and do better next time,” he said.