Olympics archery: India crash out in mixed team quarterfinals

South Korea, comprising An San and Kim Je Deok, won the first two sets -- 35-32, 38-37 - before the Indian pair bounced back winning the third 37-35.

Tokyo: The Indian mixed team in archery comprising Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav crashed out in the quarterfinals, losing to South Korea 2-6.

Although the Koreans won three sets to India’s one, all of them were closely contested.

South Korea, comprising An San and Kim Je Deok, won the first two sets — 35-32, 38-37 – before the Indian pair bounced back winning the third 37-35.

The Koreans then sealed the final set 36-33 with the Indians struggling to get a decent score in their four shots.

Earlier, India’s world No.1 woman archer Deepika and Jadhav had secured a place in the quarterfinals by overcoming the Chinese Taipei pair of Lin Chia-En and Tang Chin-Chun 5-3 in the opening elimination round.

The opening set went in favour of the archers from Chinese Taipei 36-35 as Jadhav had two poor shots of eight. However, the Indians came back strongly in the second set with 38 in their four shots. But the Chinese Taipei archers were equally good and forced a draw in the second set to maintain their lead at 3-1.

Deepika and Jadhav shot a perfect score in the third set, winning 40-35 to level the scores at 3-3.

In the deciding, with India needing 20 points in the final two attempts, Deepika and Pravin held their nerve to shoot perfectly and win the set 37-36 and with it the match.

The Indian team had qualified as the ninth-best team after the ranking round on Friday while Chinese Taipei were ranked eighth.