Jayanta Talukdar recaptured the old magic to clinch the men’s recurve gold after a gap of nine years while Deepika Kumari subdued the qualification topper Bombayla Devi to win the women’s title in the National archery championship at the Kailash Parkash Stadium here on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Jayanta, who is with Tata Steel, was delighted with his third national individual gold. He said that the effort gave him a lot of satisfaction, as it was achieved in a strong field. He had topped the qualification in a field of about 150-odd archers, and stayed consistent right through the 64-member knock-out phase to eventually beat surprise finalist Mukesh Tamang of Meghalaya 6-2 in the final.
“I won the silver in 2011, after winning the gold in 2005 and 2006. I have been performing well of late, and had the confidence to do well here,” said Jayanta.
Deepika Kumari was not tested much, by her own admission, and it suited her as she was in poor health. She beat Bombayla Devi 6-2 after an initial resistance by the Railway archer, but said that she would try to do her best in the next two events, the mixed team competition and the team final.
The results: Recurve: Men (final): Jayanta Talukdar (SPSB) bt Mukesh Tamang (Meg) 6-2; Third place: Binod Swansi (Jha) bt Sanjay Boro (Asm) 6-4.
Semifinals: Jayanta Talukdar bt Sanjay Boro 6-4; Mukesh Tamang bt Binod Swansi 6-4. Quarterfinals: Jayanta Talukdar bt Bulbul Marandi (Ser) 6-4; Sanjay Boro bt Atanu Das (PSPB) 6-4; Binod Swansi bt Chaman Singh (UP) 6-0; Mukesh Tamang bt Gautam Singh (J&K) 7-1.
Team (final): Haryana bt Railways 6-4 (26-19); Third place: Services bt Madhya Pradesh 6-0.
Women (final): Deepika Kumari (Jha) bt Bombayla Devi (Rly) 6-2; Third place: Sumandeep Kaur (CRPF) bt Simranjeet Kaur (Pun) 6-4. Semifinals: Bombayla Devi bt Sumandeep Kaur 6-5 (9-8); Deepika Kumari bt Simranjeet Kaur 6-0. Quarterfinals: Bombayla Devi bt N. Lavanya (Jha) 6-2; Sumandeep Kaur bt Laxmi Rani Majhi (Rly) 6-4; Simranjeet Kaur bt Himani Boro (Asm) 6-2; Deepika Kumari bt Komal Sharma (Pun) 6-2.
Team (final): Railways bt Jharkhand 6-4 (27-25); Third place: Punjab bt Maharashtra 6-2. Mixed team (final): Assam (Himani Boro, Sanjay Boro) bt Jharkhand (Deepika Kumari, Binod Siwansi) 5-3. Third place: Rajasthan (Seema Sihoria, Jagdish Choudhary) bt Railways (Bombayla Devi, Rahul Banerjee) 5-1. Semifinals: Jharkhand bt Rajasthan 6-2; Assam bt Railways 6-4 (19-16); Quarterfinals: Jharkhand bt UP 6-0; Rajasthan bt Gujarat 5-3; Assam bt CRPF 5-1; Railways bt Punjab 6-2.
