Indian women's archery team endured a forgettable outing as they went down 0-6 to the Netherlands in the quarters.
Handling pressure at the highest level can be tricky for rookies but archers Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur were fortunate to have the seasoned Jyothi Surekha Vennam by their side.
The former World No.1 and winner of two Commonwealth Games gold medals shot 686 in the 72-arrow ranking round to equal the feat of London Olympics gold-medallist Ki Bo Bae of Korea.
Top ranked woman recurve archer Deepika Kumari of Jharkhand created another national record when she shot 346 points in women's 50m round in the 34th Senior National Archery Championship at JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Indian archer Atanu Das expressed disappointment at being denied the chance to play the mixed team event with his world No. 1 wife Deepika Kumari, whom he credited for his stunning victory over two-time Olympic champion Oh Jin Hyek in the men's individual even at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.
After failing to secure the team quota at the World Championships in June last year, the Indian women's archery team will have their last shot to secure the full Olympics quota in Paris, as a separate tournament is planned ahead of the World Cup in June next year.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Atanu opened up about how he honed his skills during the first lockdown when sporting action was put to a grinding halt
Promising Indian archer Deepika Kumari has made the final of the women's recurve individual event of the World Cup Stage 2 at Antalya. She will face Korea's Lee Sung Jin in the summit clash on Saturday.
It was a none-too-impressive beginning to the Olympic calendar year for Indian archers as they finished with a solitary silver medal in the World Cup Stage I, which concluded in Shanghai on Sunday.
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.
India has been battling a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced many countries to ban travellers from India.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
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.
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
The Indian junior archers capped a stunning show by winning eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals to top the medals tally at the Asia Cup Stage 2 at Sulehmaniya, Iraq on Wednesday.
A strong Indian archery contingent will look to grab all the 10 gold medals on offer when they open their campaign with the qualification round in the 12th South Asian Games at the Jawaharlal Sports Complex Polo Ground on Friday. Former world No 1 and India's Olympic medal hope Deepika Kumari will lead the country's charge in the women's recurve section along with another Olympian in Laishram Bombayla Devi, who will be joined by Madhu Vedwan and Laxmirani Majhi who won the national ranking final last month. Asian Games silver medalist Tarundeep Rai will look to defend his title in the individual recurve section, which will also have the experience of Jayanta Talukdar besides the youngster duo of Binod Swansi and Gurucharan Besra.
Ace Indian discus thrower Vikas Gowda got a morale booster ahead of the upcoming Asian Games as he finished overall fourth in the prestigious IAAF Diamond League Series to pocket $ 3,000 prize money.
At a time when his former teammate Sawaiyan Majhi has been appointed Indian recurve coach, the 33-year-old would look to bring his playing career back on track with a second medal from the Asian Games in Indonesia.
India's best woman archer Deepika Kumari, lost narrowly to Ming Cheng of China in the shoot-off to settle for a silver medal in the prestigious Archery World Cup final held in Istanbul on Sunday.
The International Women's Day could not have been more special for Indian archer Deepika Kumari as a documentary on her life 'Ladies First' -- was released for worldwide streaming on Thursday.
While a billion hearts would pray for all the participants to do well, all eyes would be set on the duo of Deepika Kumari/Atanu Das, the four shooters and Mirabai Chanu to open India's medals count.
Mountaineer Bachendri Pal was, on Friday, conferred with the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, while Gautam Gambhir, BajranG Punia and Sunil Chhetri, among others, received the Padma Shri.
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.
After a year's delay due to COVID-19, the 19th Asian Games officially opens in Hangzhou on Saturday with hosts China eager to lift a country mired in economic gloom.
Deepika managed to stay in the top 10 in the qualification round with a total score of 663.
India's Atanu Das showed fine composure and skill to bounce back from a poor start in his maiden Olympics to finish fifth in the qualification round as archery got the underway at the Rio Olympics in Brazil's historic Samba street in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.
Indian archers would look to make amends for the flop-show in London when they take aim in the 31st Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Friday -- archery and football kick-start before the official opening ceremony of the Games.
Deepika Kumari will now be the sole entry in the women's section at the Tokyo Games. It will be her third successive Olympics.
The triumphant Indian women's recurve team, which clinched the World Cup Stage IV crown in Poland, returned home in the wee hours to a lukewarm response.
Chess grandmasters resume COVID-delayed tournament in Russia
Former Olympian and chief coach Limba Ram says the Archery Association of India has done 'grave injustice' to Mangal Singh Champia, who was denied a place in the team for the Rio Olympics.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Deepika Kumari seeks to bury London ghosts with Asian Games medal.
Verma wins compound individual gold, opens tally for India.
'My day starts off with Pranayam and visualisation practice for about 45 minutes. After breakfast, it's time to learn some cooking'
Former World champion Dola Banerjee expects India's archers to break their Olympics medal jinx at the Rio de Janeiro gathering from August 5 to 21.
Inconsistency coupled with some sloppy finishes cost the Indian archers dear as they lost all their matches in the final to settle for three silver medals in the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Ogden, USA.
Shooter Avani Lekhara scripted history on Monday as she became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Paralympics, firing her way to the top of the podium in the R-2 women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event in Tokyo.
