The Indian men's archery team failed to hold their nerves in crunch situations after a sound start to lose to Japan in the tie-breaker and bow out of the men's team event at the London Olympics here on Saturday.
Both teams were tied 214-214 after the stipulated four rounds in the opening elimination battle at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. But in the shoot-out, the Japanese managed 29, while the Indians got 27 out of a maximum 30 points.
India men’s archery team: Tarundeep Rai
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The Japanese team, comprising Yu Ishizu, Hideki Kikuchi and Takaharu Furukaw, shot two tens and a nine in the tie-break. In reply, the Indian trio of Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai could hit only three nines which sealed the team’s fate.
India finished last out of 12 teams in the ranking round on Friday while Japan were fifth.u00a0In Saturday’s outing, India led by three points (109-106) at the end of the first two rounds, but Japan rallied back to draw level and push the contest to the tie-break.
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Jayanta Talukdaru00a0
In the first end of six arrows, the Indian archers were ahead 54-52, and widened the gulf by another point in the second end. The Japanese managed to reduce the lead to 159-160 by the third end of arrows.
However, India came within striking distance of packing the Japanese out of the tournament in the fourth end. As Banerjee prepared to shoot the final arrow of the round with the score reading 205-214, a ten would have seen India through to the quarter finals. But Rahul culled a nine.
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Rahul Banerjee
In the shoot-off, Japan outgunned India 29-27 with the winners managing two tens and a nine compared to India’s three ninesu00a0Banerjee said: “I am really disappointed. We were leading by three points. We all shot well but some of our 8s put us down.”
Talukdar said illness marred their practice sessions. “All three of us were in bed for two or three days, so our bodies got weak. Yesterday, during the ranking round, I could not shoot properly because of less body power,” said Talukdar.
Rai was positive nevertheless. “I was disappointed. We lost the team round but we have to focus on the individuals now,” he said.
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