Antalya (Turkey): Indian compound archers disappointed at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 as none of them managed to reach the medal rounds in the individual and mixed categories here on Friday.
India, who finished second behind South Korea with two gold, one silver, and four bronze medals at the previous stage in Shanghai, are yet to open their medal account here.
Madhura Dhamangaonkar, the fourth seed and winner of the last World Cup, was ousted in the quarterfinals by fifth-seeded Mariana Bernal of Mexico. Madhura lost 152-159 in the women’s individual section.
Mariana was consistent throughout, while Madhura struggled to find her rhythm after an opening round of 29 out of a possible 33.
World champion Aditi Swami also exited in the last-eight stage, going down 147-152 to Mexico’s second-seeded Andrea Becerra.
In the men’s section, 13th seed Rishabh Yadav lost to 28th seed Nicolas Girard of France 149-157 in the quarterfinals.
Yadav had earlier edged out senior teammate Abhishek Verma 157-154 in the pre-quarterfinals.
World champion Ojas Deotale suffered a shock first-round exit, going down 157-161 to USA’s James Lutz.
India’s hopes were further dashed in the compound mixed team event as the duo of Madhura Dhamangaonkar and Rishabh Yadav suffered a 160-163 defeat against their Estonian rivals.
The result marked a disappointing follow-up to their bronze-medal finish in the mixed pair event at the previous World Cup leg in Shanghai.
The recurve mixed team was even worse.
Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara crashed out in the opening round, losing 2-6 to Kazakhstan in a tightly contested four-setter (38-40, 41-37, 37-38, 39-40).
The Indian archers appeared to be struggling to cope with the new scoring rule implemented at this stage.
Starting with the Antalya leg, the ‘X’ ring — the innermost circle — now counts as 11 points, pushing the perfect score per round (three arrows) from 30 to 33.
Earlier on Thursday, India had also crashed out from the team events in both the recurve and compound sections.
With the team events campaign ending in disappointment, India will now pin their hopes on the recurve individual events, which get underway on Saturday.
All eyes will be on former world youth champion Parth Salunkhe and seasoned campaigner Deepika Kumari, both of whom had returned with bronze medals from Shanghai last month.
