Archers lose to Japan in ‘heartbreaker’

The Indian men’s archery team of Jayanta Talukdar, Tarundeep Rai and Rahul Banerjee failed to capitalise on mistakes by rivals Japan and bowed out of the team championships.

The Indian men’s archery team of Jayanta Talukdar, Tarundeep Rai and Rahul Banerjee failed to capitalise on mistakes by rivals Japan and bowed out of the team championships. Both teams were locked on 214 and in the tiebreakers Japan blew India away.

HT Image

India led the match from start and had opened up a three-point gap at half-way stage. But an eight by Rai in the crucial final end pushed the match into tiebreaker. With archers getting no accreditation for support staff, physio Joydip Das Choudhury did his sessions before the start of the event on the roadside outside the Lord’s.

Ghosh advances

It was a mixed day in table tennis where 19-year-old Soumyajit Ghosh prevailed over Brazil's Gustavo Tsuboi 4-2 (11-9, 14-12, 7-11, 12-10, 5-11, 12-0) but in the women’s section another 19-year-old Ankita Das lost to Spain’s Sara Ramirez 1-4 (9-11, 8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 2-11) to exit from the competition. Pistol shooter Vijay Kumar too failed to qualify for the final of the men's 10m air pistol. The 27-year-old Army man from Himachal Pradesh finished a disappointing 31st out of 44 shooters with a score of 570, giving him no chance at all to make the next grade.

In the 48kg women’s weightlifting, Soniya Chanu finished seventh out of 14 competitors with a total lift of 171 kg.