Deepika advances, Das out

Antalya (Turkey), May 22 

Four Indians, including Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai, advanced to the third round even as Atanu Das crashed out in the recurve individual section of the Archery World Cup Stage III here today. The Indians also kept themselves in the medal hunt in the compound section, with Abhishek Verma and Rajat Chauhan also making it to Round 3.

The 21-year-old Atul Verma, a bronze medallist at the 2014 Youth Olympics, was the most impressive, shocking Shanghai World Cup gold medallist Deng Yu-Cheng of Chinese Taipei in a shootoff. Trailing 0-4 after two sets, Verma, a silver medalist at the 2017 World Youth Championships, won the next two sets before the fifth one saw a 28-all tie. In the shootoff, Verma edged out his opponent 9-8 to set up a third-round clash against world No. 2 Steve Wijler of the Netherlands. 

Former Olympian Rai also remained in the medal fray and set up a third-round clash with 17-year-old Japanese Aoshima Tetsuya, a bronze medallist at the 2017 World Youth Championships.

The Army man defeated Gasper Strajhar of Slovenia 6-4. India No. 1 recurve archer Das, however, crashed out in the second round, suffering a 7-3 defeat to 19-year-old Carlos Rojas of Mexico. 

Former world No. 1 Deepika beat 45-year-old 1992 Barcenlona Olympics bronze medallist Khatuna Lorig in the shootoff. Deepika will face Veronika Marchenko of Ukraine in the third round.

Laishram Bombayla Devi eased past Mackenzie Brown. Bombayla will next face Sayana Tsyrempilova of Russia. — PTI