Rakesh Kumar continued his impressive run of form to storm into the pre-quarter-finals even as teammate Shyam Sundar Swami made a second-round exit as Indian compound archers had a mixed day at the Paralympic Games, in Tokyo, on Saturday.
A day after he shot the highest score -- 699 out of a maximum 720 -- by an Indian para-archer in the qualification round, the wheelchair-bound 36-year-old Kumar easily overcame Ka Chuen Ngai of Hong Kong by a massive 13-point margin at the Yumenoshima Park.
Kumar, who won an individual gold medal at the seventh Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament in Dubai earlier this year, had near perfect four ends, dropping just one point each enroute to totalling 144 out of a possible 150.
Overall, he shot nine perfect 10s, including four closest to the centre (X), as his Hong Kong opponent paled in comparison, shooting four 10s (three Xs) for a total of 131.
In the last-16 round on Tuesday, the third seeded Kumar will face 14th seed Marian Marecak, a two-time 49-year-old Olympian from Slovakia.
Earlier, 21st seed Sundar, who also got a bye into the second round, suffered a narrow 139-142 defeat to 2012 Paralympics silver medallist Matt Stutzman, the armless archer from the USA who shoots with his feet.
From being 55-all at the half-way mark, Stutzman took a three-point lead with a perfect 30/30 fourth end and sealed the fixture by three points, despite a late challenge by the Indian.
Javelin thrower Bhati misfires in all six attempts
India's javelin thrower Ranjeet Bhati bowed out of Paralympics after failing to register a single valid throw in his six attempts in the men's Class F57 final.
The 24-year-old from Faridabad had finished fourth at the Moroccan Grand Prix in 2019 and qualified for the Paralympics after winning gold medals in the state-level tournament in Gurugram and the National competition in Bengaluru this year.
