An individual medal in archery continued to prove elusive for India as the Commonwealth Games champion and world No. 3 Deepika Kumari lost the bronze medal match to Un Sil Kwon of DPR Korea 25-27, 26-28, 29-26, 26-28 in the Asian Games on Tuesday.
Deepika had lost in the semifinals to the eventual champion and world No.2 Ok-Hee Yun of Korea 24-27, 27-28, 29-27, 29-30 in a close encounter. The Korean was a class act in the final as she pipped Cheng Ming of China 27-25, 28-27, 28-27.
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Coming after the team bronze medals in the men's and women's section, and Deepika's thrilling quarterfinal victory over Ya Ting Tan of Chinese Taipei at 26-29, 28-26, 28-29, 28-27, 29-28, it was an anti-climactic finish for the Indian camp.
“I am a good archer, but am not very confident of my shooting. I will try to get better,” said Deepika.
Coach Purnima Mahato said the wind was not a problem and Deepika had made mistakes in the first two sets, perhaps owing to pressure.
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“I thought she could at least win the bronze medal in the Asian Games. She lacks confidence,” said the coach.
Deepika had pulled off two earlier wins against Rand Almashhadani of Iraq (56-46, 49-49, 54-46) and Erwina Safitri of Indonesia (26-28, 26-26, 27-24, 30-28, 26-22).
The other Indian in the fray, Rimil Buriuly won against Zahra Dehghanabnavi of Iran 49-47, 48-46 in the first round, but lost 22-27, 21-27, 28-27, 25-26 to Ya Ting Tan of Chinese Taipei.
The men's individual competition will open on Wednesday, with Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai, who had pipped Mangal Singh Champia and Jayanta Talukdar in the qualification, staking their claim for India.