India’s top-ranked recurve archer Deepika Kumari missed the flight to Jakarta for the Asian Games alongside the rest of the archery contingent as she was down with dengue, The Tribune reported.
The world No. 7, however, is expected to leave on Friday as officials believe she will be fit in time to represent India at the continental quadrennial event. It is unclear how long she has been down with dengue, with the report suggesting it was sometime last week that the diagnosis was made.
Deepika will be part of the individual and and mixed team events, which get underway on August 22. Deepika and Atanu Das are considered one of the strong medal contenders in recurve mixed pair event.
“We had no clue about her illness,” a source was quoted as saying by the report. “When she did not take the flight to New Delhi, we enquired and were told she was down with dengue.”
Deepika was expected to lead India’s charge at the Asian Games, having already won a World Cup gold medal this year in Salt Lake and qualifying for the season-ending World Championships.