Deepika finishes 9th in women's 72-arrow ranking round at Olympics, reaches round of 32

Tokyo: World No 1 Deepika Kumari finished 9th in the Women’s Individual category ranking round on Friday as South Korean S. An won the gold medal with 680 points in 72 arrows. M. Jang of South Korea took second place with her teammate, C. Kang finishing third.

Kumari, India’s biggest medal hope got her Women’s Individual event on the opening day of the Games off to a slow start. She was 10 after the first 12 arrows and then slipped to 14 after 24. But then just when it seemed that the medal dreams are fading, she stormed back in the next 12 arrows (59, 57)  to occupy the 4th position with 334 points at the midway point. But in the second half, she seemed to have gone off the radar a bit. Not getting those perfect 10s in the backend hurt her.

Ahead of Tokyo Olympics, the ace Indian archer had revealed that she was working on the mental side of the game and claimed to have gained confidence.

“I have learnt a lot from the last two Olympics and past competitions. I am working a lot on my mental side of the game, even now. I have gained a lot of confidence,” Deepika Kumar told Sports Today days ahead of her departure to Tokyo.

“I am getting a lot of motivation from winning competitions. I get a feeling that all my efforts are bearing results. But, as usual, each competition is different from one another,” the Olympian said.

Recalling how she dealt with pressure at the biggest of stages, Deepika added: “At the moment, you won’t be aware of anything as to who is next to you. At that time, it’s only about you and your arrow and you are trusting each other.

The 27-year-old has been the face of Indian archery for a decade now. As a 16-year old, she won two gold medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and a bronze medal at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.