India's recurve archers once again flattered to deceive at the World Championships as the women's team lost to South Korea in the bronze medal play-off.
Deepika Kumari will yet again chase an elusive World Championship medal as India are set to showcase their next generation, led by 15-year-old Gatha Khadake, at the prestigious tournament
Indian archery endured a forgettable outing at Stage 3 of the World Cup in Antalya, Turkey on Saturday, returning empty-handed in a performance that raised serious questions over team selection, preparation and mental fortitude, especially with the Asian Games just a year away.
'I really want to win an Olympic medal, and I won't quit until I achieve that'
India, who have never won an Olympic archery medal, will send a full six-member contingent to Paris to compete in all five events for the first time in 12 years
Deepika Kumari is torn between two worlds. One where the doting mother longs to be with her 19-month-old daughter Vedika, and another where the ace Indian archer craves for an elusive Olympic medal.
India's archers have never been able to go past the quarter-final hurdle at the Olympic Games.
The women's team of Ankita Bhakat, Simranjeet Kaur and Bhajan Kaur defeated Vietnam to win a bronze at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Friday.
India's archers showed tenacity and authority in equal measure to storm into the quarter-finals in all the six team events of the Asian Games.
The Indians failed to shoot even a single 10 in the first set as the top seed Korean duo of An San and Kim Je Deok took the first set 35-32 in a low-scoring affair.
Das failed to score a 10 in the fifth set and slipped to the red-circle for an 8, which proved costly, as home favourite Takaharu Furukawa sealed the issue by a solitary point margin in the decider.
Ace Indian archer Deepika Kumari confessed on Monday that she needs to stop buckling under the pressure of performing at the Olympic Games and approach the biggest sporting stage from a different perspective to achieve desired results in future.
Locked 5-5 after the regulation five-setter, the 27-year-old Indian held her nerves in the shoot-off to deliver a perfect 10, hitting the bull's eye, to topple the Russian, a team silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
A look at the country's athletes' showing at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday, July 30.
Deepika managed to stay in the top 10 in the qualification round with a total score of 663.
Competing in her third successive Olympics, two-time world No. 1 Deepika has seen it all, from the lows of London to hitting rock-bottom at Rio 2016.
Suspension, internal mudslinging and factionalism overshadowed some stellar performances by Indian archers as the sport went from bad to worse with just a few months left for Tokyo Olympics in an eventful 2019. The biggest blow to Indian archery came in August when World Archery suspended the national federation after two warring groups conducted parallel elections in Delhi and Chandigarh in a clear defiance of the international body's guidelines.
All the gold medallists from Saturday's action at the Tokyo Olympics.
Ranked fourth in the qualification round, Deepika found the going tough against the second seed, who produced fine shooting, including a flawless third set to clinch the match 6-0 in her favour.
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