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 in Ogden, USA.
The Indians figured in three finals and one bronze medal play-off in the recurve section events held on Friday, but in could not register a win on the penultimate day, according to information received here.
The country's gold medal hope now rests on women's trio of Jhano Hansdah, Gagandeep Kaur and Manjudha Soy, who have made it to a World Cup final in the compound section for the first time.
They will take on the host's trio of Erika Anschutz, Christie Colin and Jamie van Natta in the summit clash.
In what could have been a hat-trick of gold medals for promising teen archer Deepika Kumari turned out to be a flop show as she lost both her individual as well as team finals with some inconsistent performances.
In the mixed pair final, Deepika's partner Talukdar let her down by running out of time in his last arrow, to pick a zero that virtually crowned their American opponents.
The women's recurve team of Deepika, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Chekrovolu Swuro began the Indian campaign on a sorry note when they lost to their opponents from Ukraine 213-210 to settle for silver.
Ukraine became India's nemesis yet again when the fancied men's recurve trio of Jayanta Talukdar, Thupuvoyi Swuro and Viswash lost by an identical margin in the bronze play-off. The 17-year-old Ranchi girl was overwhelmed by top seed Ming Cheng of China with some neat performance to settle for a silver in the women's recurve. In the mixed recurve final, Deepika and Talukdar began the first end with a three point (36-33) lead over Miranda Leek and Brady Ellison of the US. But the American duo made a flying comeback in the second end with four perfect 10s to total 73 (40+33). On the other hand, it was a disaster of sorts for the Indians when Talukdar could not shoot his last arrow on time to slump to 26 for a total of 62.
