Women''s recurve team qualifies for Rio, men falter

Gagan K. Teja 

Tribune News Service

Patiala, July 28

The Indian women's recurve team qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics by reaching the final of the World Archery Championships at Copenhegan in Denmark. The trio of Deepika Kumari, Laxmi Rani Majhi and Rimil Buriuly beat Germany in the first round, Colombia in the  quarterfinals and Japan in the semis to set up a title clash with Russia. 

Pitted against seventh-seeded Germany, the Indian women showed great character and resilience to register victory after losing the first set. 

 The trio didn't break a sweat to win their quarterfinal against Colombia, winning the tie 6-2. In the semifinals, however, Japan gave them a tough fight before going down in the shoot-off. With both the teams locked at 4-4, the tie drifted into the shoot-off where all three Indian girls struck a perfect 10 to register a thrilling win.

The men's recurve team — Mangal Singh Champia, Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee — gave away 4-2 lead before losing (26-29) to the second-seeded Italy in a shoot-off. The men's team thus lost their first chance to secure a berth for the Olympics. The trio will now have to wait for the second chance in the World Cup in Antalya in June 2016.

However, Banerjee, Talukdar and Champia can earn the individual berths by finishing among Top 32 in individual event that gets underway tomorrow.     

Archery Association of India treasurer Virender Sachdeva said, “It's a commendable achievement by the girls. They showed nerves of steel to secure an Olympic quota. They came up with brilliant performances under difficult conditions. It is raining here and the conditions are very windy.”