Paris: The Indian team’s hopes of securing their first-ever Olympic archery medal were dashed when Deepika Kumari was defeated by South Korea’s Suhyeon Nam in an intense Women’s Individual quarterfinal at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.
Deepika challenged the 2nd-seeded South Korean across five sets with scores of 28-26, 25-28, 29-28, 27-29, and 27-29, narrowly missing the semifinal berth.
Nam, 19, began impeccably, scoring a perfect 10 on her first attempt. However, Deepika remained unfazed, delivering a strong set of 9, 10, 9 to finish with 28 points, taking an early lead over Nam, who scored 26.
Securing the first two points, Deepika entered the second set with confidence, starting with a bullseye. Yet, a stray second shot earning only 6 points allowed Nam to clinch the second set 28-25, levelling the score at 2-2.
The third set saw both archers start with a 10 and 9. Nam completed her set with a solid 28, but Deepika hit the bullseye to narrowly win 29-28, advancing to a 4-2 lead.
In a bid to equalize, Nam opened with another perfect 10, matched by Deepika. However, Deepika’s subsequent 8-point shot led to a 27-29 loss, tying the score at 4-4, with one final set remaining.
Continuing her pattern of strong starts, Nam scored another 10. With a final shot and needing a 10 to win, Nam hit the bullseye by a hair’s breadth, defeating Deepika in the final set and taking the match 6-4.
