Deepika Kumari failed to deliver when it mattered most as Russia beat India in a closely-contested quarter-final 5-4 via the shoot-off in the women's recurve archery competition at the Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, on Sunday.
After the two teams were tied at 4-4, having won two sets each, the Russian trio of Tuiana Dashidorzhieva, Ksenia Perova and Inna Stepanova held their nerve in the shoot-off, winning it 25-23.
Deepika, whose showing was the worst of the three Indian archers in the fray, needed to score a perfect 10 off the final shot but the highly-rated Jharkhand archer could only log 8 under floodlights at the Sambodromo arena.
It was mainly because of Laishram Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi that India gave stiff competition to the London Olympics semi-finalists.
India lost the first set comprehensively 55-48 but Bombayla and Laxmirani hit perfect 10s in the second set and took it 53-52.
India won the third 53-50, as Stepanova got one of her shots wrong and returned only 6 points.
Up 4-2, India could have clinched the issue in the fourth set when they needed a perfect score of 30 with their second set of arrows to level the Russian team's score of 55 and thereby win by a 5-3 margin having tied the score.
Bombayla and Laxmirani hit the bull's eye and Deepika needed to follow suit. It was another moment of reckoning, but she scored only 9, thereby handing the set to Russia 55-54, which enabled them to take the match into the shoot-off round.
Earlier in the day, the Indian team made it to the quarter-finals, beating Colombia 5-3.
Their progress came as huge relief for Deepika and Bombayla Devi, who were a part of the team that lost to Denmark in the opening round at the 2012 Games in London.
The trio of Deepika, Laxmirani Majhi and Bombayla were not at their best but did well to prevail over an even more erratic Colombian team.
The teams were on even keel at 3-3 after first three sets and the turning point came in the final set.
Needing 28 points with final three arrows to beat India's set score of 52, Colombian archer Caroline Aguirre committed hara-kiri as she lost control and the misdirected arrow fetched her only 3 points, much to the relief of the Indian camp.
The Indians won the set 52-44, thereby getting the crucial two points for winning the set and taking an unassailable 5-3 lead.
However, it wasn't a great performance from the Indians as they could hit the perfect 10 only twice – Bombayla in the first set and Deepika in the third.
Deepika, India's biggest hope in archery, was not in her element as she started off poorly, hitting a 7 with the final arrow of the first set, which India managed to pip the opposition by a point.
The Jharkhand girl performed no better in the second set, hitting a couple of 7s but somewhat found form in the last two, where she hit a 10 along with three arrows which fetched her 9 points each.
Bombayla was the most consistent with a single 8 pointer, five shots of 9 points each and a perfect 10.
