Atanu Das as well as Ankita Bhakat and Deepika Kumari made confident starts to their campaign in great conditions in the Guatamela City 2021 Hyundai Archery World Cup Stage 1 in the Central American country on Tuesday.
Atanu Das (680 points) and Ankita Bhakat (673) finished second in the ranking round in men and women’s recurve competition while Deepika Kumari (671) was third. In the women’s draw, all four Indians, including the world under-18 champion Komalika Bari (659) and Madhu Vedwan (654) have earned themselves a first round bye with their good scores.
Atanu Das and Pravin Jadhav (666), who ranked15th, have drawn first round byes while No. 20 B Dhiraj (664) will take on Jose Carlos Lopez (Guatamela) and No. 22 Tarundeep Rai (663) will do battle with Mexico’s Ivan Gonzalez in the round of 64.
On a day when World No. 1 Brady Ellison (USA) shot a classy 694 points to top the men’s ranking, Atanu Das kept pace with him till the halfway stage when he trailed by just four points. However, the American who shot a world record 702 in 2019, shot with greater freedom in the second half to open a 14-point gap.
In the women’s event, Deepika Kumari held the lead at the halfway stage with 339 points, four more than either Ana Vazquez (Mexico) or her own team-mate Ankita Bhakat. Perhaps fatigue got the better of the former World No. 1 and she had to rush through her final arrows after coming down from full draw a few times.
In the team events, the third-ranked Indian men’s squad of Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav and B Dhiraj will await the winner of No. 6 Spain and No. 11 Guatamela. The top-ranked Indian women will take on Guatamela in the quarterfinals. A win here would set it up against Spain or France in the round of four.
In an unfortunate turn of events, the Indian Compound archery teams got left at home after one of the coaches reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 but that result was declared false after the flight on which it booked to leave Delhi was had taken off. For the record, the top score in the men’s ranking round was 717 by the Netherlands’ Mike Schlosser and in the women’s event was 707 by Paige Pearce (USA).
The results (Ranking round, 72 arrows):
Men’s Recurve (top 8 and other Indians): 1. Brady Ellison (USA) 694; 2. Atanu Das 680; 3. Florian Unruh (Germany) 679; 4. Maximilian Weckmueller (Germany) 678; 5. Jean-Charles Valladont (France) 677; 6. Josef Scarboro (USA) 676; 7. Crispin Duenas (Canada) 673; 8. Sjef van den Berg (Netherlands) 673; 15. Pravin Ramesh Jadgab 666; 20. B Dhiraj 664; 22. Tarundeep Rai 663.
Women’s Recurve (top 8 and other Indians): 1. Ana Vazquez (Mexico) 680; 2. Ankita Bhakat 673; 3. Deepika Kumari 671; 4. Casey Kaufhold (USA) 668; 5. Lisa Unruh (German) 668; 6. Michelle Kroppen (Germany) 665; 7. Alejandra Valencia (Mexico) 663; 8. Mackenzie Brown (USA) 663; 12. Komalika Bari 659; 14. Madhu Vedwan 654.
Image: Atanu Das (Courtesy: World Archery website)
