Tokyo Olympics: Deepika Kumari-Pravin Jadhav Bounce Back to Qualify For Quarterfinals of Archery Mixed Team Event

Trailing 1-3 after they lost the first set by one point, Team India needed to win the third set to save their fortunes and the duo, who were shooting together at the international level for the first time, showed perfect coordination to seal 5-3 win.

New Delhi: India started the archery campaign at the Tokyo Olympics on a high note with the Deepika Kumari-Pravin Jadhav sealing the spot for the quarterfinal round of the Archery Mixed Team Event on Saturday.

The magnificent duo bounced back from behind to register a stunning 5-3 win over Chinese Taipei. Trailing 1-3 after they lost the first set by one point, Team India needed to win the third set to save their fortunes and the duo, who were shooting together at the international level for the first time, showed perfect coordination to seal the win.

It is the first time when the mixed Archery team event is introduced in the Olympic Games and the win gives a huge boost for India to script history in the event.

🔟 to win…

Deepika Kumari delivers a victory for India in the first-ever mixed team match at the @Olympics.#ArcheryatTokyo #archery pic.twitter.com/x0JwjEdz4m

— World Archery (@worldarchery) July 24, 2021

Deepika and Pravin performed together for the first time as earlier it was supposed to be Atanu Dasto pair with her wife in the mixed event. However, Pravin’s better performance compared to Atanu in the ranking round has prompted him to be paired with Deepika for the event. Based on the combined scores of Jadhav and Deepika, India were placed ninth in the field of 16 for the mixed team event.

Das and Deepika got married during the pandemic in June last year. The husband and wife pairing has been a successful one in mixed team event at the world stage. The duo recently won a gold medal at the World Cup Stage III in Paris earlier in July.

Jadhav, who is making his Olympics debut, scored 656 points in the men’s ranking round to get the better of most of his compatriots. His rank was 31st, four places above Das, the world no 9 in the competition where he garnered a below-par score of 653 points. The third and senior-most member of the team, Tarundeep Rai, was ranked 37th with a total of 652 points.

Later in the day, the Deepika Kumari-Pravin Jadhav will face the winners of top seed Korea and Bangladesh in the mixed pair section, which is making its Olympics debut at Tokyo.