As expected, the Indian recurve archers did exceptionally well in the qualification (ranking) round of the Commonwealth Games, which began at the Yamuna Sports Complex here on Monday.
The Indian men's and women's teams warmed up nicely for the main event with impressive performances. Deepika Kumari stood first in the women's recurve section with a 332 in the first and a 330 in the second for a grand total of 662.
Dola Banerjee qualified second with a 328 and 330 for a total of 658. Bombayala Devi qualified in ninth position with a total score of 624.
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In the men's recurve section, Rahul Banerjee finished first with a total of 679 (336 & 343) while Jayanta Talukdar came a close second with a tally of 676 (335 & 341).
In the team event, Indian women came first (1944 aggregate points) while the men stood first with an aggregate of 2002 points.
In the compound section, India put up a modest show with C.H. Jignas (693), C. Srither (691) and Ritul Chatterjee (685) finishing 17th, 18th and 21st respectively among men. India was sixth in the team qualification rankings.
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In the women's section, India was a dismal fifth in the eight-team competition. Gagandeep Kaur (675), Jhano Hansda (674) and Bheigyabati Chanu (667) finished 15th, 17th and 21st in individual rankings.
Rahul appeared satisfied with his display. “I am really happy with my performances. It was quite difficult for me to handle the wind conditions coming from a certain direction in the first half, but in the second it sort of settled down,” said Rahul.
India's chief coach Limba Ram gave a dose of reality when he said “the real battle begins on Tuesday.”