World No.1 Deepika Kumari finished ninth in the women’s individual ranking round as India’s Olympic campaign kickstarted at the Yumenoshima Park in Tokyo on Friday.
Deepika finished with a score of 663. South Korea’s Archer San An made the new Olympic record by scoring 680 points. She surpassed the previous record of 673 by Ukraine’s Lina Herasymenko.
Highlights
Deepika started with a bang in the first half. At the halfway mark, she occupied fourth place with 334 points. But then she struggled in the second half and was completely out of mark. She had slipped to number 14 after round 4 but fought back with a 59 and 57, to finish 9th in the overall rankings.
Deepika will now face World no.193 Karma of Bhutan in the first round. But her main challenge will be in the quarterfinals, where Deepika is likely to face top seed An San from Korea.
Here’s why the good result in the Ranking Round was important
The results of ranking rounds will be used to decide the opponents of the athletes. The competition such as nations for the individual, mixed team and team competitions.
“I feel my performance was good as well as bad…it was in between I would say. I don’t know why it was like that.” Deepika Kumari said on her slip-up in the final six sets.
“I’m talking to myself, I’m controlling my emotions and trying to make myself better and better. I want to show my best performance here and I will show that in my next rounds,” Deepika eyes on a strong comeback.