Deepika Kumari’s run at the Tokyo Olympics came to a crashing halt as she lost 6-0 to the top seed An San of South Korea in the quarterfinal of the women’s individual recurve on Friday.
An - the gold medal winner in the mixed and the women’s team event – began with a perfect round of 30, while Deepika was pegged back by two 7s and managed only 24.
An was on song as she shot two more 10s and a 9 to easily pocket the second set. Fighting to remain in the competition, Deepika began the third round strongly with a 10 but once again slipped and hit a 7 and a 9 to total 24 in the final round.
“It was a disappointing performance, and I could not perform up to my expectations,” she said after the match.
Earlier in the day, Deepika – participating in her third Olympics – defeated Ksenia Perova of the Russian Olympic Committee in a shoot-out to make it to the last eight. With the match tied 5-5, the Indian fired a 10 while the Russian fumbled to hit a 7.
Atanu Das is India’s lone archer left in the competition and will be in action on Saturday when he takes on Japan’s Takaharu Furukawa in the quarterfinals of the men’s recurve.
