Rai, Nagesia joint winners

Tarundeep Rai of Army Sports Institute and Sivanath Nagesia of Indo-Tibet Border Police scored identical points to emerge joint winners in the men's section while Uttar Pradesh's Sumangala took the honours in the women's section at the first National Ranking Archery Circuit Tournament (third phase) at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Delhi on Monday.

Rai, who led the title race from the very first day, had a bad outing in the third and final Olympic round on Monday as he could only manage to finish ninth. But the performances in the earlier two rounds ensured that the archer did not slide from the top spot.

Luck seemed to be on the side of the ASI player as Nagesia also faltered in the final round to finish fifth with a points tally of 122, the same as that of Rai.

Harish Kerai of ASI (108) and Mukesh Khilari of Maharashtra (104) finished third and fourth respectively.

Sumangala dominated the proceedings from the beginning, scoring a total of 62 points, eight more that runner-up Reena Kumari of Jharkhand.

Sumangala won the first two rounds and finished second in the third to ensure that no other player could get a chance of coming into contention for the top spot.

Jharkhand's Dola Banerjee (52) and C Swaro of Nagaland (43) were placed third and fourth respectively.

The third phase of the circuit is part of the Archery Association of India's efforts to prepare the team for the next year's Athens Olympics.

The three top-ranked players in both men's and women's categories from this four-leg circuit will represent India in the Olympics.

The honours in the team event went to the combination of Rai, Kerai and Nand Kishore in the men's section and C Swaro, K Bhagyabati Chanu and Keziegunuo Thanu in the women's category.