Archer Atanu on mark, others off target

Rio de Janeiro, august 9

Atanu Das entered the pre-quarterfinals of the Individual Recurve event. On Tuesday, Das first blanked Jit Bahadur Muktan of Nepal 6-0 in the round of 32 and then prevailed over Cuban Adrian Andres Puentes Perez 6-4 in a thrilling clash. 

In a thrilling best of five sets encounter, Das edged out his Cuban opponent 28-26, 29-26, 26-27, 27-28, 29-28 at the Sambodromo. Das grabbed a two set lead, hitting three perfect 10 shots out of his first six attempts when Adrian managed two. But the Cuban managed a turnaround hitting two consecutive 10s in the fourth set to make it two sets each. In the final set, Das hit two successive 10s to confirm the contest in his favour.

The 24-year old is now up against South Korean archer Lee Seung-Yun, a former world No. 5, on August 12. 

Dattu out of medal race

Rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal finished fourth in the quarterfinals of the men's single sculls to be out of medal reckoning. Bhokanal clocked 6:59.89s to cover a distance of 2000m, a little more than six seconds behind the third and last qualifier from the quarterfinal 4. Croatia's Damir Martin, the London Olympics silver medallist, won the quarterfinal with a timing of 6:44.44, ahead of second-placed Alan Campbell (6:49.41). Armyman Bhokanal, whose ailing mother is in an Intensive Care Unit of a hospital in India, had clocked 7:21.67s in the heat. He was second going past the 500m mark but then gradually slowed down to lose his chance of advancing. Bhokanal, the lone rower in fray from India, will now have to fight for the minor placing. 

Heena finishes 30th 

Shooter Heena Sidhu finished a lowly 30th after the precision stage of the 25m women's pistol qualification round. Heena started the first series with 95 cumulative points before dropping to the 17th position with 95 points in the second series at the Olympic Shooting Centre. Starting the third series at the 17th spot, she managed a 96 to further dip to the 30th spot with a total score of 286.

Britain outclass India 3-0

India's women's hockey team was outplayed 0-3 by higher-ranked Britain in its second group stage match on Monday. The world No.7 Britain scored through Giselle Ansley (25th minute), Nicola White (27th) and Alexandra Danson (33rd). It was India's first loss in Pool B after they drew the opening game against Japan 2-2, while Britain earned their second consecutive win — following a 2-1 win over higher-ranked Australia. — Agencies