World number one archer Deepika Kumari’s quest for an Olympic medal ended in heartbreak for the third time as she obediently surrendered to Korean seed An San in straight sets in the quarter-finals here Friday.
Archer Deepika missed four 7s as An, who had broken a 25-year Olympic record en route to the top of the classification round, completed the women’s individual match 6-0 in less than six minutes.
For three-time Olympian Deepika, it was yet another heartbreaking outing at the Games.
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At the Rio 2016 Olympics, she lost in the pre-quarterfinals, while in her first Olympics in London, where she went number one, she crashed in the first round.
Deepika’s husband Atanu Das is the only Indian still in contention for a medal as he reached the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday with a stunning play-off victory over two-time Olympic champion Oh Jin Hayek.
In his last 16 games scheduled for Saturday, Das will face home favorite Takaharu Furukawa, individual silver medalist at the 2012 Olympics, and team bronze medalist here.
Earlier in her round of 16 games, Deepika held her nerves to beat 2017 world champion Ksenia Perova of the Russian Olympic Committee in a thrilling shoot-off to an arrow to seal a 6-5 (10-7 ).
Locked 5-5 after the five regulatory sets, the 27-year-old Indian had a perfect 10, hitting the bullseye, to overthrow the team silver medalist at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Starting the one-arrow shootout, the Russian collapsed under the pressure as she missed a 7 as a composed Deepika finished her in style.
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