As the qualifiers for the women’s individual archery event began on Friday, the Indian trio of Laxmirani Majhi, Deepika Kumari and Bombayla Devi began their quest for an Olympic medal. World No 15 Majhi was making her Olympic debut, while 12-ranked Kumari was making her second appearance at the Games. For veteran and world No 69 Devi, this was her third showing at the quadrennial event.
After the first round, Kumari scored 56, followed by Majhi at 54 and Devi at 52. They were placed ninth, 19th and 35th respectively. In the second, Deepika rose to eighth with a score of 110 and Devi jumped 11 places. However, Majhi fell to 21st.
In round three, Kumari held on to her spot, while Majhi fell to the 40th position by shooting a dismal 49. Devi took a step ahead by hitting another 54. However, the team total was down to 480 with India on the fifth spot. In the next round, a solid 58 from Deepika made her break into the top three. Devi moved up to 15th with a total of 217. Majhi moved up to 37th, having scored 210. India broke back into the top three with 649 points.
In round five, Kumari bagged the top spot after hitting 58 and also took the team total to 813 points. However, round six was a nightmare for Kumari as she fell to the fifth by scoring a poor 49, taking her score 329. Devi was eighth with a score of 327 and Majhi fell further down to 49th with 306 on the board. India were fifth with a combined total of 962 at the halfway stage.
Round seven was even more dreadful for the Indian contingent as Kumari missed her last shot, taking her score to 46 and falling to 18th spot. Devi was down to 11th place with a score of 378 followed by Majhi on 54th with a total of 355.
After the final two rounds, Kumari finished on 20th with 640 points and Devi 24th with 638. However, Majhi finished with 614 points on 43rd in the recurve women's qualification round. In the team event, India finished seventh with 1,892 points and will play Columbia in the round of 16.
