Tokyo Olympics: Indian men's archery team fall in quarters against dominant South Korea

The Indian men’s archery team lost 6-0 to South Korea in the quarterfinals of the event at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday (July 26).

South Korea are a dominant force in the sport, meaning India were always underdogs going in. But the Koreans spared them no quarters. (Tokyo 2020 full coverage)

The Koreans started well enough, scoring 29 out of 30 points with a 10-10-9. India managed 28 in reply with an 8-10-10, the sole 8 coming from Atanu Das.

Korea responded with a perfect 30 out of 30 meaning India’s hopes were over before it began. India only managed 9-9-8 in reply.

The second set began with some hope, as the scored were 29-29 after the first round. Once again it was Das who hit an 8 when a 10 was sorely needed. Korea responded with another perfect 30 and were 4-0 up already.

They needed only a draw in the final round but went ahead and won the set anyway. India were out after a 6-0 hiding, despite not actually doing too badly. But the fine margins matter at this level.

Tokyo Olympics run comes to an end

Indian men’s archery team had reached the quarters after defeating Kazakhstan 6-2. The match started with a 10 by Kazakhstan, and Atanu replied with a 9.

However, at the end of the first set, India won by a small margin after scoring 9, 9, 8, 9, 10, 10 as opposed to Kazakhstan’s 10, 9, 9, 8, 8, 10.

At the end of the first set, Kazakhstan scored 54 while India got 55, thanks to back-to-back 10s from Pravin and Atanu.

The second set was a rather easy one as well for India. India won that set as well with a 52-50 score, and went 4-0 up in the match.

Atanu started off with a 10 and finished with a 9. Pravin Jadhav hit a 7 in this set. Kazakhstan started the next set with back-to-back 10s.

In response, Atanu hit 10 in India’s first shot, which was followed by 9s by Tarundeep and Pravin. In the end, Kazakhstan scored 57 while India scored 56.

India won the fourth set 55-54 to set up the South Korea clash.