India’s challenge in women's archery at the Rio Olympics ended on Thursday after Laishram Bombayla Devi and Deepika Kumari were beaten in the pre-quarter-finals.
While Deepika was blanked 0-6 by world No. 2 Tan Ya-Ting of Chinese Taipei, Bombayla lost 2-6 to world No. 18 Alejandra Valencia of Mexico.
Both the archers were guilty of letting their nerves get the better of them.
Deepika, the first to take the field on Thursday, failed to raise her game when it mattered and lost 27-28, 26-29, 27-30 in a lop-sided contest during which she hit the bull's eye just once.
The former world No. 1 was put under pressure by Ya-Ting from the start and never really got going.
While Deepika seemed out of sorts in the high-pressure match, Ya-Ting was a picture of composure, striking six perfect 10s, three of them back-to-back in the third set.
Bombayla also endured a disastrous outing which began with a 7 off the first arrow.
She too was found wanting in handling pressure in the 26-28, 26-23, 27-28, 23-25 defeat.
After losing the third set narrowly, the Indian just could not gather herself, striking a 6 off the first arrow in the fourth set, which ultimately proved her undoing.
The Indian challenge in archery now rests on the shoulders of Atanu Das, in the men's competition.
He will be in action on Friday in the pre-quarter-finals.
The 24-year-old from Kolkata is up against South Korea’s former world No 5 Lee Seung-Yun.
He made the grade after first blanking Jit Bahadur Muktan of Nepal 6-0 in the preliminary round and then kept his composure to prevail over Cuba’s Adrian Andres Puentes Perez 6-4 in a thrilling Round of 32 contest.
