Deepika fails at big stage again, crashes out of Asian Games

Former world number one Deepika Kumari yet again flopped at the big stage as it turned out to be a depressing day for India's recurve archers, whose challenge ended at the Asian Games here today.

Of all four archers in action today, only Atanu Das managed to reach the quarterfinals while the other three fell by the wayside at the preliminary stages.

After getting a bye, Deepika got past North Korea's Hyang Ji Ri (6-2) but fluffed her second last shot in the third set to lose 3-7 to Chinese Taipei's Chien Ying Lei.

India's only hope, after Deepika came a cropper, was Das but he too lost his quarterfinal 3-7 to Indonesia's Riau Ega Agata Salsa Billa.

In the final set, the 26-year-old needed to hit a 10 in the final shot but found an eight to total 28.

The local favourite after shooting a 10 in his first shot, delivered a 10 and 9 to clinch the match.

Das had defeated both Yong Won Pak from Korea and Denis Gankin of Kazakhstan with identical 7-3 victories
"The Taipei girl had an advantage. She was leading 5-3, so even if Deepika had hit perfect 10s, it would have been a tie. Maybe she felt the pressure because she was lagging behind."