Tokyo Olympics: Archer Deepika Kumari keeps medal hopes alive, enters 3rd Rd

Tokyo: World No 1 Deepika Kumari advanced to the Round of 16 in the women’s individual archery after beating Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez of the US 6-4 in a closely-contested match at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics, here on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old Deepika lost the first set after shooting 25 (7, 9, 9) to the American’s 26 (9, 10, 7) at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field

Deepika then made a superb come back with 28 (8, 10,10) to win the second set, with Mucino-Fernandez only shooting 25. In the third set, she shot a 10, 9 and 8 to outscore the American 27-25 and took the lead of the match.

In the fourth set, Deepika Kumari shot 6 with her second arrow, which lost her the set and the scores levelled 4-4. She began the fifth set with two 9s and finished with an 8 to score 26.

Deepika Kumari will shoot her third-round match on Friday morning at the @Tokyo2020 @Olympics.#ArcheryatTokyo #archery pic.twitter.com/HaRz3N5TrN

— World Archery (@worldarchery) July 28, 2021

Fernandez had begun with two 8s and with a 10 needed to level the match, the American could only shoot 9 with her final arrow, giving the Indian archer victory.

The Indian archer had earlier beaten Bhutan’s Bhu Karma 6-0 in the Round of 64.

Deepika Kumari is already out of the mixed team archery event alongside Pravin Jadhav after they lost to South Korea. (UNI)