Deepika Kumari rode her luck to stay alive making the pre-quarterfinals of the women's individual recurve event of the Olympic Games at the Esplanade des Invalides in Paris on Wednesday.
The veteran archer could breathe a sigh of relief after being trolled heavily on social media since the women's team crashed out in the quarterfinals against the Netherlands.
The former World No. 1 showed glimpses of her vintage best hitting a perfect 30 to edge past Reena Parnat of Estonia 6-5 (29-28, 26-27, 27-27, 24-27, 30-27) in a shootout in the first round. She returned to the arena half-an-hour later to record a 6-2 (29-28, 27-29, 25-27, 28-23) win against Netherlands' Quinty Roeffen to join teammate Bhajan Kaur in the last-16 stage. Deepika will play Michelle Kroppen of Germany in the pre-quarterfinals on Saturday.
The former World No. 1 began hitting consecutive 10s in the first set to go 2-0 up against Parnat. However, the World No. 57 Estonian levelled scores winning the second set 27-26 while the third set was tied at 27-27. Parnat took the lead (5-3) winning the fourth set 27-24, but the four-time Olympian came back strongly recording a 30 to win the fifth set and take the match to a shootout.
It was not the best shot by Deepika, who scored a 9 in the single shot but that too proved enough as Parnat faltered to end with an 8. Thirty-year-old Deepika's life was made easier by some irregular shooting by Netherlands' Roeffen in the second elimination match. With both archers tied at 2-2, the 18-year-old Dutch missed her target as Deepika pocketed the third set in spite of scoring a poor 25. Deepika wrapped up the match winning the fourth set 28-23.
Rai, Bommadevara crash out
The men's archers suffered setbacks as debutant Dhiraj Bommadevara and veteran Tarundeep Rai crashed out early. While Bommadevara lost to Canada's Eric Peters in a shootout late on Tuesday night, Rai caved in against Great Britain's Tom Hall 4-6 (27-27, 27-28, 28-25, 28-29, 29-29) on Wednesday.
The 2010 Asian Games bronze medallist Rai failed to put pressure on his lower-ranked rival who managed to get the 10 when required. Bommadevara, who had a smooth ride in the first elimination round getting past Czech Republic's Adam Li 7-1 (29-29, 29-26, 29-28, 28-26), took the match to a shootout before losing 5-6 (28-27, 28-29, 29-27, 30-30, 29-30) to Peters.
