Tokyo: Women’s world number one archer Deepika Kumari booked her spot in the quarterfinals by beating Ksenia Perova of Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 6-5 following a shoot-off.
She will face An San of South Korea in the quarterfinals of the women’s individual archery event. The South Korean beat Japan’s Ren Hayakawa 6-4 to reach quarters. In the pre-quarters match, An San had two perfect sets and nine 10s out of 15 shots.
Deepika started well, winning the first set 28-25, to lead 2-0. With the second series of arrows she hit a low seven, that cost her as the Russian returned the compliment. The third set was won by Deepika while the fourth was shared. Perova made a great comeback and took the fifth set. With scores tied at 5-5, the contest went into a single-arrow shoot-off, in which the Russian started with a poor seven.
Deepika held her nerve and hit a 10 to win 6-5. In the entire contest, she hit two sevens and four 10s (excluding in the shoot-off).