Rio Olympics: Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi in archery pre-quarters

HIGHLIGHTS

Deepika beat Georgia’s Kristine Esebua 6-4 in her match, shooting a total of eight bulls eyes to enter the Round of 32

She met Italian Guendalina Sartori and went past her adversary 6-2 to contest her place in the pre-quarters

Earlier Bombayla Devi’s entered pre-quarters by beating world No 10 Lin Shin-

NEW DELHI: Deepika Kumari took big strides in putting behind the failure of India's women's archery team by progressing into the pre-quarters of the individual event early on Thursday morning.

Deepika beat Georgia's Kristine Esebua 6-4 in her match, shooting a total of eight bulls eyes to enter the Round of 32 where she met Italian Guendalina Sartori hardly 15 minutes later. Deepika, ranked 12th in the world, went past her adversary 6-2 to contest her place in the pre-quarters later today at 17:30 IST.

In murky conditions and with a light drizzle, Deepika started off by shooting 8, 10 and 9 to win the first series 27-26 versus Esebua. The second series was tied, with Deepika shooting 10, 10 and 9. In the third, she managed a stunning hat-trick of 10s.

Esebua won the fourth set to reduce Deepika's lead to 5-3, but the 22-year-old former world No 1 rebounded with shots worth 10, 10 and 9 to move ahead 6-4 after the fifth and claim the match.

Against Sartori, Deepika lost the first series 24-27 but claimed the second 29-26 by hitting 10, 10 and 9. A riveting contest continued with Deepika then hitting 10, 10 and 9 to take the lead 4-2 after three series, which became 6-2 in the final which she won 28-27 with two more bulls eyes.

Deepika's success followed Bombayla Devi's on Wednesday, which saw her enter the pre-quarters by beating Austrian archer Laurence Baldauff and world No 10 Lin Shin-Chia by identical 6-2 margins.