Bihar state inter-district women cricket begins in Patna

Bihar Art, Culture and Youth Affairs Minister Sukhda Pandey inaugurated the Notre Dame Cup inter-district women cricket championships at Notre Dame School ground in Patna on May 5, 2011. She also played a few shots. The tournament is being organised by Bihar Cricket Association. Eight district teams East Champaran, West Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Bhojpur, Bhagalpur, Patna, Darbhanga and Purnia have been participating in the four-day meet. On the first day, East Champaran beat hosts Patna while Muzaffarpur beat Darbhanga.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

Indian men recurve team settles for a silver medal

Kolkata, May 8, 2011: Indian men lost to the U.S. in the final of the recurve team event, 219-221, on Saturday to end the World Cup (Stage I) archery tournament with just one silver medal to its credit, according to a Press release of Indian Archery Association.

The Indian team, comprising Rahul Banerjee, Tarundeep Rai and Jayanta Talukdar, tied the first end of six arrows at 56-56 and took a three-point lead in the second end of six arrows at 58-55 (114-111). The American team of Kaminsk, Fanchin and Ellison, took advantage of two 8s by the Indians to finish the third end of six arrows at 56-54 (168-167, India’s favour). The Indians thereafter seemed to have lapsed in concentration in the final end of six arrows as they shot three 8s which enabled the Americans to pull away to 54-51 in that end for a final score of 221-219 in their favour.

This was India’s second successive silver medal in this tournament. Last year the Indian team, consisting of Mangal Singh, Rai and Talukdar, lost to Italy in the final.

The Indian women’s team finished fourth while the compound men’s and women’s sides were eliminated in the early rounds. Same was the case in the individual events where only recurve archer Seema Verma managed to enter the quarterfinals before bowing out to a superior Korean archer.

Brady Ellison also won the men’s individual gold and mixed team silver medal for his country in recurve bow section.

Indian men recurve team enters final

Kolkata, May 7, 2011: Indian men’s recurve team, putting behind all the disappointments of the past three days, made a telling impact on the ongoing World Cup (Stage I) archery tournament at Porec (Croatia), by making a triumphant entry into the final on Friday, according to Press release of the Indian Archery Association.

Ranked fifth, India, well served by Rahul Banerjee, Jayanta Talukdar and Tarundeep Rai, produced one of the biggest upsets of the event by beating Korea by 219-217 points in the semifinals. India will take on the U.S. in the gold medal match.

The women’s side, consisting of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Seema Verma, lost out in the bronze medal play-off to Germany by 202-209 points to finish fourth in a tough field.

The old story returned to haunt the compound archers as the men were eliminated in the first round by Iran, ultimate bronze medal winner, by 227-233. The women did a shade better winning the opening round against Mexico (220-210) but coming a cropper in the quarterfinals against the third-ranked France by 218-220.

The Indian men’s team, entering this tournament as World No. 1, could only finish fifth in the ranking round. Yet, the Indian trio rose to the occasion to take out first 12th ranked Canada (216-197) and then fourth ranked Italy (224-217), thus exacting a sweet revenge to the loss it suffered in last year’s final. This victory brought India face to face with Korea. The Indians held the nerve to shoot down the Koreans (219-217) to march into the final.

The U.S. troika, Brady Ellison, Joe Fanchin and Jake Kaminsky, has done well till the final and will be waiting for the Indians in the 24-arrow finale. Korea clinched the bronze medal defeating Ukraine (223-209).

Indian women too began very promisingly out shooting 15th ranked Colombia (209-201) and ousting 10th ranked Denmark (216-210) in the quarterfinals. Russia, ranked third, proved too strong to second-ranked India in the semifinals (200-191) sending the latter to the bronze medal play-off. Russia will face Korea in the final.

The U.S. will play Denmark in the compound men’s final and it will be be a France-Sweden showdown in the ladies' final. Russia defeated Italy for the bronze medal.

Poor show by Indian archers

Kolkata, May 6, 2011: Indian compound bow archers failed to lift the sagging spirits of the 21-member contingent with a trite display in the elimination round on the third day of the World Cup (Stage I) at Porec (Croatia) on Thursday.

Only veterans Jhano Hansdah and Bheigyabati Chanu won matches on a day when everybody else lost in the first round of action. Former National Champion Jhano eased into the pre-quarterfinals where she was beaten by 4th seed Erika Anschutz of the U.S., 140-144 points. Bheigyabati won her first round against Erika Anear of Australia but fell to 10th seed Marcella Tonioli of Italy, 134-139, in the next round.

National champion Namita Yadav, ranked 19, failed to go past 46th-ranked Anne Lantee of Finland, 128-136 in the second round after gaining a bye in the first round. Gagandeep Kaur, occupying the 26th position after the ranking round, got a first round bye but was stopped by 39th placed Viktoria Balzhanova of Russia, 132-136.

The men compound archers were worse. Reigning Asian champion and former National champion fromAndhra Pradesh, Isaiah Rajender Sanam, ranked No. 60, failed to do justice to his talent by losing to 53rd-ranked Swiss Gregoire Fumeaux by two points, 137-139. Commonwealth Games team gold medallists, C. Srither, Ch. Jignas and Ritul Chatterjee, all stumbled ignominiously in the first round. Srither lost to much lower ranked Croat Vladimir Bartol 141-143; Jignas fell to Italian Pieto Greco, 138-139 and Chatterjee, ranked a poor 71, was upstaged by 42nd placed Belgian Sam Kyritsoglou, 138-142.

Even in the newly introduced mixed team events, the Indians failed to make a mark. Having qualified as No. 4 seed, recurve archers Rahul Banerjee and Deepika Kumari were defeated by 13th-ranked Polish team, Piotr Piatek and Justyna Mospinek, by 137-140 points in the first round of the 16-team knockout competition.

Srither and Namita too went out in the opening round losing to Iranian pair of Amir Kazenpoor and Parsamehr Mahtab, 143-145, to complete the Indians’ cup of woe.

Dismal show by Indian recurve archers

Kolkata, May 5, 2011: Indian recurve archers fell like nine pins in the individual elimination round of the men’s and women’s section of the World Cup (Stage I) at Porec, Croatia, on Wednesday. The only exception was rookie Seema Verma who lost to second-seeded Korean Ki Bo Bae 0-6 in the quarterfinals.

According to a press release of Indian Archery Association, among the men, only Tarundeep Rai managed to enter the pre-quarterfinals where he also lost to top seed Korean Oh Jin Hyek 3-7.

The worst was National men’s champion Viswash who bowed out in the first round to Dutch opponent Tim Freriks, ranked way below him in this championship, 0-6.

National women’s champion Deepika Kumari, ranked fifth and seeded in the third round, had the ignominy of losing to a rival ranked 32 ranks below her. Katrina Lipiarska of Poland won 6-4.

CWG gold medallist Rahul Banerjee, ranked ninth, was a second round victim going down to 57th ranked Hugh Mac Donald of Canada 2-6. Gold medallist at Porec in 2006 and 2009, Jayanta Talukdar, seeded 19th, produced a real shocker falling to 99th ranked unknown Bulgarian Vencislav Velikov 4-6.

Two other Indian ladies, 11th ranked L. Bombayla Devi fell to 22nd ranked Maja Buskbjerg Jager of Denmark 3-7 in the third round and Rimil Buruily, qualifying at the 51st place, lost to 62nd ranked Alison Williamson of Great Britain, silver medalists at the Delhi CWG, 2-6.

In the compound qualifications, archers shot the new 50-metre round where the American archers set three new world records. Men’s individual Reo Wilde broke his own world record of 708 set on 24 April 2011 with 711 points. The compound men's team established a new world record with 2116 points, improving on its own mark of 2112 set on 8 April 2011 in Phoenix, USA. With a total of 2083 points the compound women's team eclipsed the world record set by Italy at theEuropean Grand Prix in Antalya back in April (2044).

Chinna Raju Srither and National Champion Namita Yadav were the best Indian compound archers on view. Srither occupied 36th place with a total of 692 points. Namita was 19th with 675. Chittibomma Jignas (687), Isaiah Rajender Sanam (685) and Ritul Chatterjee (679) took the 57th, 60th and 71st spots respectively. The Indian team was ranked 12th with a total of 2064.

Jhano Hansdah was the second best Indian woman placed at 20th with 675. Gagandeep Kaur was 26th with 673 and Bheighyabati Chanu was 55th with 646. The first three ensured India ended sixth with a total of 2023.

The Indian mixed team pair of Srither and Namita was placed 12th with 1367.

Indian archers have a modest day in World Cup State 1

Kolkata, May 4: Indian archers had a modest day on the opening day of the World Cup Stage I at the Croatian city of Porec on Tuesday.

According to a Press release of the Indian Archery Association, amidst dominating display by Korean archers, the eight-member Indian recurve team tried its best to consolidate the position in one of the strongest fields in recent times. Only CWG gold medallist Deepika Kumari could finish among the top eight in either section. CWG men’s gold medallist Rahul Banerjee was the best Indian men on view finishing ninth.

Korea’s Oh Jin Hyek (1359) and Im Dong-Hyun (1352) were the top two and world record holder in the FITA round also from, Korea Kim Woojin, finished fifth (1345). Banerjee (1334) wan ninth,Tarundeep Rai (1325) was 16th, Jayanta Talukdar (1321) was 19th and Viswash (1301) was 29th.

The Indian team comprising Banerjee, Rai and Talukdar ended fifth (3980) behind Korea, France, the USA and Italy.

Korean unleashed a newcomer in Jung Dasomi who cornered all the limelight by standing first in three distances and in overall total as well in the ladies’ section. She totalled 1374 points. Korea also cornered the second and third places. Deepika Kumari (1328) was fifth, Seema Verma, who represented India in the youth Olympics in Singapore, was 10th (1319). Olympian Laishram Bombayla Devi (1314) was 11th and Rimil Buruily (1278) shot much below her standards to end 51st.

The Indian team consisting of Deepika, Seema and Bombayla was second behind Korea with 3961 points.

In the mixed team event, the Indian pair of Banerjee and Deepika Kumari totalled 2662 to be on fourth behind Korea, Great Britain and Italy.