Bommadevara Dhiraj and Tarundeep Rai won their respective opening round matches against Jose Carlos Lopez (Guatamela) and Ivan Gonzalez (Mexico) in the Guatemala City 2021 Hyundai Archery World Cup Stage 1 on Wednesday. Dhiraj beat Lopez 6-0 (28-23, 30-27, 27-24) and Tarundeep Rai beat Gonzael 6-0 (29-27, 27-21, 27-26).
On Thursday, there will be three rounds of Recurve men and women’s matches, including the quarterfinals. And in the second half of the day, the Recurve Mixed team of Atanu Das and Ankita Bhakat will be up against seventh-ranked Spain in the quarterfinals on day when two pairs will book their places in the final.
In the men’s second round, Dhiraj will meet Spain’s 13th ranked Daniel Castro and Tarundeep will clash with Mexico’s 11th ranked Angel Alvardao. Pravin Ramesh Jadhav will meet Puerto Rico’s Adrian Munoz while Atanu Das will meet El Salvador’s Oscar Ticas who beat Germany’s Christoph Breitbach 6-5 in an intensely fought first round match.
In the women’s draw, second-ranked Anita Bhakat will take on Sepulveda Karen Juliana Rodriguez (Colombia), who beat Cinthya Pellecer (Guatemala) 6-0 in the opening round. The third-ranked Deepika Kumari will square up against American Kelsey Lard, who posted a 6-0 win against another home archer Cobos Camila Acevedo in the first round.
The 12th seeded World Under-18 Champion Komalika Bari will be up against Mexico’s Valentina Vazquez, ranked 21, while No. 14 Madhu Vedwan will face a challenge from another Mexican, Aida Roma.
Image: Deepika Kumari (Courtesy World Archery)
