Indian archers continued to be offtarget in the Olympics as Rahul Banerjee, Jayanta Talukdar andChekrovolu Swuro today crashed out in the men's and women'sindividual events respectively at the historic Lord's CricketGround here.
India's Tarundeep Rai beat his Cuban opponent J C Stevensvia shoot-off to enter round two -- which will be held laterin the evening.
Rahul convincingly blanked Mongolia's Jantsan Gantugs 6-0in the first round only to lose 3-7 to Rafael Dobrowlski ofPoland in the second round.
Tarundeep held his nerves to trail 1-5 and then equalisewinning the fourth and fifth set as he took the encounter intogolden shoot-off. In the shoot-off, the Sikkimese archer hit a9 while his Cuban opponent could only manage a distant 8.
Earlier, in the morning, Talukdar was no match for hisAmerican rival Jacob Wukie, who easily pocketed the encounter6-0, while Swuro went down fighting to Jennifer Nichols of USA6-5 in the one arrow shoot-off after the scores were tied at5-5.
In individual events, which is decided on best of fivesets (three arrows each), one who wins a set irrespective ofthe margin gets two points.
Swuro was leading 5-3 and could have clinched the issuebut for the bout of nerves that made her fire the arrow in awayward manner.
The Indian needed to hit a 10 in order to clinch the tiebut the nervous Nagamese archer could only manage a six as thescore was tied at 5-5.
In the shoot-off, the American scored a nine, while Swurocould just about hit an eight.
Earlier, Talukdar was a trifle off-colour and lacked theconsistency as he started poorly with a score of 22 (8, 5 and9) in the first set, while Wukie hit 27 (8, 10 and 9).
The Indian archer paid the price for a poor score of 5 inthe first set and could not really recover from that lapse ofconcentration.
Talukdar fought back in the second set but Wukie was in imperious form as he hit three straight 10s, the maximumpossible score.
Talukdar picked up and hit his first 10 in the third setand returned with a score of 28 but Wukie was relentless as hehit two more 10s and a nine to pocket the set and the contestwith a score of 29.
Wukie has already won a silver medal along with his USteammates Brady Ellison and Jake Kaminski in the men's teamevent.
Talukdar blamed the archers' poor performance on feverthat they suffered just a few days before start of theOlympics.
"All of us -- me, Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai had afever and became very weak. That's the main reason we shotbadly in the ranking round. Then we ended up with a tough drawand have to face someone shooting really good, like Jacob,"Talukdar said.
"In this match I just didn't start well or with anyconfidence. In the third end I got better and shot a goodscore of 28 but Jacob was just better. If you want to win youhave to be confident," he added.
After her loss in the one arrow shoot-off in the 1/32 elimination round in the women's individual event, ChekrovoluSwuro said she had a "good windy experience".
"This is of course a good experience for me. It will helpme face the next windy competition. Here the wind is allaround, from left, then from right, I cannot judge it. Let'ssay it was a good windy experience," said the Nagamese archer.
Swuro, who needed a nine to win the match but ended upshooting a six, said, "I shot a six because that was a lateshooting. However, I am happy she (Jennifer Nichols) won atthe end, at the shoot-off. She is a very good archer."
Swuro said that despite a disappointing performance shewas happy to have represented her country at the Olympics.
"I am very proud to be here as a woman for my country andfor my region. Mine is a very big country but there are onlyfew chances to go to the Olympic Games. This was a first stepahead," she insisted.
"People at home are praying for me. I am sure with theirprayers I will become tougher," she added.
Pinning her hopes like millions of Indians on DeepikaKumari, Swuro said, "The only Olympic sport I will watch isarchery and tomorrow I will be here for Deepika, who is worldNo.1 and support her."