Atanu Das and Rimil Buriuly staged superb fightbacks to take the top spots in the finals of the third National-ranking archery tournament, which concluded here on Sunday.
Atanu got the better of the seasoned Tarundeep Rai 6-4, while Rimil stunned favourite Deepika Kumari in a thrilling tie-breaker, following a 5-5 score, in the recurve men’s and women’s sections respectively.
In the compound category, Rajat Chauhan and V. Jyothi Surekha claimed the top positions in the men’s and women’s sections respectively.
It was Rimil who won the hearts with her outstanding comeback against a competitor of Deepika’s class. Trailing 0-4 at one stage, the 21-year-old pipped Deepika by a point in the third set to narrow the gap to 2-4. She judged the wind well and shot the arrows quickly to gather a couple of 10s in the next to level the scores 4-4. In the final set, Deepika, after two 8s, shot a 10 to spilt points with Rimil and take the duel to the tie-break.
In the shoot-off, both archers demonstrated their superiority with scores of 10 each, but Rimil, who had won the morning session’s elimination round, shot closer to the centre to emerge the winner.
“I did not think too much. I just focused on giving my best. I guess I judged the wind well,” said Rimil, an Asian Games team bronze winner.
The promising Atanu showed nerves of steel to rally from 2-4 down and pip Tarundeep. The Kolkata-based archer excelled as the match progressed. He shot two 10s in the fourth set to make it 4-4 and scored a perfect 30 in the next to outwit Tarundeep.
“It was windy and the pressure was more. So I kept adjusting my equipment from the beginning and scored well towards the end,” said the 21-year-old.
In the third elimination round held in the morning, Tarundeep won the men’s recurve event. M. Gandhi Singh and V. Jyothi Surekha bagged the compound men’s and women’s gold medals.
The results: Elimination round: Event 4: Recurve: Men: Final: Tarundeep Rai bt Vishwash 5-5, tie-breaker (9-6); Third place: Kapil bt M.R. Tirkey 6-4.
Women: Final: Rimil Buriuly bt Dola Banerjee 6-2; Third place: Deepika Kumari bt Chekrovolu Swuro 6-2.
Boys: Final: Binod Swansi bt Atul Verma 6-0; Third place: Akhil Choudhary bt Swmla Boro 6-2.
Girls: Final: Himani Boro bt Davinder Kaur 6-0; Third place: Dipali Boro bt Padyawati Sardar 5-5, tie-breaker 9-6.
Compound: Men: Final: M. Gandhi Singh bt Ritul Chatterjee 138-134; Third place: Sandeep Kumar bt Kh. Ratan Singh 144-135.
Women: Final: V. Jyothi Surekha bt Trisha Deb 137-133; Third place: Manjudha Soy bt Namita Yadav 130-129.
Boys: Final: Ravi Sharma bt Y. Charan Reddy 140-129; Third place: Sudhakar Paswan bt Angrej Singh 137-136.
Girls: Final: Madhumita Kumari bt Maselo Mihu 133-129; Third place: Sorang Yumi bt Swati Dudhwal 134-133.
Event 5:Finals(based on overall rankings as per performance in earlier events):Recurve: Men:First place: Atanu Das bt Tarundeep Rai 6-4; Third place: Jayanta Talukdar bt Priyank Tyagi 6-0.
Women: First place: Rimil Buriuly bt Deepika Kumari 5-5, tie-breaker 10-10 (Rimil’s arrow was closer to the centre); Third place: Dola Banerjee bt L. Bombayala Devi 6-2.
Compound: Men: First place: Rajat Chauhan bt Abhishek Verma 146-139; Third place: Sandeep Kumar bt Kh. Ratan Singh 141-141, tie-breaker 10-9.
Women: First place: V. Jyothi Surekha bt Manjudha Soy 147-138; Third place: Trisha Deb bt P. Lily Chanu 144-133.
