A splendid performance by Indian archers Bombayla Devi and Deepika Kumari in the round of 32 of the women's individual event on Wednesday saw them smoothly progress to the next round. The terrific duo gets back in action once again in the round of 16 of the Rio 2016 Olympics on Thursday.
Bombayla, 31, displayed a top show on Wednesday against Chinese Taipei's Lin Shih-chia and will be expected to continue the same against Mexico's Alejandra Valencia on Thursday. Deepika, 22, meanwhile, who overpowered Italy's Guendalina Sartori in the last round, takes on Chinese Taipei's Tan Ya-ting.
Both Indian archers won by a 6-2 score in their previous round.
Deepika fired a total of eight bulls eyes, as she eased past Georgia's Kristine Esebua in the round of 64, also held on Wednesday, amid drizzle. Bombayla, meanwhile, consistently hit nine points, apart from hitting the bulls eye and eight points and seven points on certain occasions during her round of 64 match against Austrian archer Laurence Baldauff.
With Laxmirani Majhi out of medal contention after losing in the individual event earlier, all hopes of a medal for India from archery rest on the shoulders of Bombayla and Deepika, who can yet pull off something really impressive. In the men's archery event as well, India's Atanu Das too remains a medal hope as he gets set for his pre-quarters action on Friday.
The two Indians in Women's archery individual event pre-quarters will be in action from 5:30 p.m. IST (1 p.m. BST, 8 a.m. EST) on Aug. 11.
Where to watch live
India: TV: Star Sports 2/HD, Star Sports 3/HD, DD National. Live streaming: Hotstar.
UK: TV: BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four. Live streaming: BBC Red Button.
USA: TV: NBC Sports. Live streaming: NBC Olympics.
