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.