India's [ Images ] top archer Deepika Kumari came tantalisingly close to winning the World Cup final before she went down to Olympic double gold medallist Bo Bae Ki to settle for a silver in the recurve women's individual event at Hibiya Park in Tokyo on Sunday.
According to sources, Deepika, in her first appearance after the London [ Images ] Olympics [ Images ] debacle, was in splendid form as she won the quarter-finals and semi-finals to lead 4-0 in the final before she lost 4-6 ((26-23, 27-25, 24-28, 23-26, 25-26).
Down 0-4, the Korean bounced back winning the remaining three sets to grab the gold and thus capping a stunning year that saw her win the individual and team titles in London two month ago.
Having slipped to World No 2 following her London setback, Deepika, who was given the top billing in the coveted meet, won the first two sets 26-23 and 27-25 to lead 4-0.
Ki came back strong in the third set with a 9-9-10, better than the 9-8-7 of Deepika in a rain-affected match. But Ki managed to bring the match on an even keel, winning the fourth set 8-10-8 to 8-8-7.
Deepika had a ray of hope in the fifth set with a 9 against Ki's 8.
In the second set of arrows, both hit 9 as Deepika had a one-point advantage and needed a perfect 10 to settle the issue. But the teenager lost the battle of nerves hitting a 7 compared to Ki's 9 to settle for a silver for two consecutive editions.
Earlier in the day, Deepika had beaten Miki Kanie of Japan [ Images ] 25-23, 26-26, 29-24, 27-24, overall 7-1, in another rain-marred quarter-final battle.
In the semis too, the Ranchi girl was in her elements as she beat Jennifer Nichols of the USA 6-2 (28-24, 25-26, 26-25, 28-27).
Dola Banerjee [ Images ] is the only Indian who has won a World Cup final in Dubai [ Images ] in 2007 where the field had only four archers.
this
Users
Comment
article