Archery World Cup | Atanu Das bows out while Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai qualify for Round 3

Atanu Das, the top-ranked recurve archer in India had to bow out from the Stage III of the Archery World Cup as he was handed a 3-7 defeat in the second round of the competition by Mexico’s Carlos Rojas. The Indian had a lead of 2-0 before he lost his momentum and the 19-year-old Mexican archer took the game away and booked a place in the third round of the tournament.

However, senior pro, Tarundeep Rai has made his way into the third round of the World Cup after getting the better of Austria’s Dominik Irrasch in the first round and Slovenia’s Gasper Strajhar in the second. The former Olympian from India managed to beat Strajhar 6-4 and will now face Japanese youngster Aoshima Tetsuya in the third round of the competition.

Deepika Kumari also performed well to win her first two rounds against Kyrgyzstan’s Jibek Kanatbek Kyzy and Khatuna Lorig. After a comprehensive 6-0 win in the first round, Deepika was up against the 45-year-old Lorig and the round went into the shoot-off after a scoreline of 6-5 and Deepika managed to book a place for her in the third round. She will now take on Ukraine’s Veronika Marchenko in the third.

Apart from her, Laishram Bombayla Devi also cruised into the third round as she managed to beat Ozay Gasimova of Azerbaijan and Mackenzie Brown of USA by scores of 6-4 each in her first two rounds. The Indian archer will now meet Russia’s Sayana Tsyrempilova.

In the compound men’s section, Abhishek Verma and Rajat Chauhan are still in the medal hunt after a good beginning in the initial rounds of the tournament.