'I want to show my best performance here and I will show that in my next rounds'
Star Indian archer Deepika Kumari finished a disappointing ninth in the women's individual ranking round as the country's Olympic campaign kickstarted at the Yumenoshima Park in Tokyo on Friday.
The world No 1 managed to stay in the top 10 in the qualification round with a total score of 663, while talented 20-year-old Korean prodigy An San (680) topped the qualification round with an Olympic record score of 680. The performances will determine the seedings for the elimination rounds.
The Indian might run into San in the quarterfinal stage. Deepika had lost to her in straight sets during their only exchange in an Olympic Test event at the same venue in 2019.
The previous Olympic record score in the individual ranking round was 673 held by Ukraine's Lina Gerasymenko way back at Atlanta 1996 Olympics.
The world record (692) is held by Kang Chae Wong, the world No.3 who finished third with 675 points for a Korean top-three in the qualification round.
Jang Minhee (677) finished second.
Deepika fancied her chances at the halfway mark (36 arrows) as she occupied the fourth place with 334 points, one point ahead of Korean heavyweight Kang Chae Wong.
But she slipped in the back-end and was woefully out of mark with two 53s in the eighth and penultimate end to slip behind, while Mexican Alejandra Valencia climbed to the fourth place.
"I feel my performance was good as well as bad...it was in between I would say," Deepika said.
On her slip-up in the final six sets, she said: "I don't know why it was like that; I was trying to control my shots so that I could play better."
Deepika's biggest challenge is likely to be in the last-eight where she might run into San who is making her Olympic debut.
Two years after she lost at the same venue to San at the 'Tokyo 2020 Test Event' here, Deepika would look to avenge her final defeat.
"I'm talking to myself, I'm controlling my emotions and trying to make myself better and better."
"I want to show my best performance here and I will show that in my next rounds," Deepika vowed to come back strong."
The qualifying round results are used to seed the athletes and nations for the individual, mixed team and team competitions, deciding their opponents in the competition.
Archers shoot 72 arrows at the target set 70 metres away, in 12 series of six arrows.
They are ranked from highest to lowest at the end of the round. An archer's position after the ranking round becomes their seeding for matchplay.
India 9th in both men's team and mixed pair rankings; debutant Jadhav best among trio
Debutant Pravin Jadhav finished ahead of the experienced Atanu Das and Tarundeep Rai as India managed ninth-place finishes in both the men's team and mixed team rankings of the Games archery competition at the Yumenoshima Park.
Chasing an elusive Olympic medal in archery, India braces for some tough challenges ahead as both men's team and mixed pair are likely to face Korea in the quarterfinals.
The Indian mixed team will open its campaign against eighth-ranked Chinese Taipei, and should it overcome the first-round hurdle, top-seed Korea would be waiting in the last-eight.
Likewise, the Indian men's team might run into top-seed Korea, who got a bye into the quarters, should they beat eighth-ranked Kazakhstan in the opening round.
In the individual rankings, all the three Indian male archers finished out of top-30.
Jadhav was ahead of Das on number of X counts at the halfway mark where both had scores of 329 before the Maharashtra archer nosed ahead in the final six sets to finish 31st with 656 points out of a maximum 720.
Das had a 35th place finish, while former Asian Games silver-medalist Rai, in his third Olympics appearance, took the 37th spot among 64 archers.
Taking Jadhav's tally into account with Deepika's 663 in the women's event, India ranked ninth in the mixed team competition where the country has the best-ever medal hope.
Deepika had finished ninth in the women's ranking round earlier in the day.
Despite Jadhav's top finish among the Indians, the country would field it's 'power couple' Deepika and Das for the mixed pair competition that is set for an Olympics debut on Saturday.
"It's a team call and the decision has to be made within 45 minutes today," a World Archery official said.
The men's trio's combined performance was just enough to finish inside top-10 as they totalled 1961 for a ninth place finish in their first Olympic appearance since London 2012.
The Indian men's team had failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio Games and Das was the only male competitor in the individual section.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Korean phenomenon Kim Je Deok, who has been labelled as the greatest talent in 100 years, missed the Olympic record by two points en route to topping the men's ranking round with 688 points, six ahead of world No 1 Brady Ellison.
Ellison, the 2012 Olympic Champion, and 39-year-old veteran Oh Jin Hyek finished third.
Hyek's compatriot Kim Woojin had a fourth place finish as defending champions Korea topped the ranking round in the men's team event.
Deepika to partner Jadhav in mixed pair competition
Deepika Kumari will partner Pravin Jadhav in the archery mixed pair event of the Olympic Games after the debutant was preferred by the team think-tank ahead of her husband and more experienced Atanu Das based on form shown in Friday's qualification round.
The mixed pair competition, which will make its Games debut here on Saturday, is seen as India's best medal hope in archery where the country is yet to win an Olympic medal.
Based on the combined scores of Jadhav and Deepika Kumari, who finished ninth earlier in the day, India secured a similar ninth place ranking for the mixed pair competition.
India had the option to send entries of Das and Deepika, who recently won a gold medal together at the Paris World Cup, but the federation went ahead with Jadhav.
"Simply put, we picked Jadhav based on his current form, it's no rocket science," Archery Association of India official Virendra Sachdeva, who is accompanying the team in Tokyo, said.
Das and Deepika, who tied the knot last year, are the first Indian couple to take part in the same discipline in an Olympic Games.
"We could have also chosen Rai being the most experienced. We decided to give Jadhav the opportunity based on his performance in the ranking round."
In all likelihood, India would run into top seed Korea in the quarters after overcoming Chinese Taipei.
"Jadhav is a new talent, while Deepika has got the experience. Hopefully they will do well together."
"Despite tremendous pressure, the players are trying to give their best," he said.
