Deepika Kumari creates yet another national record

Jamshedpur: Top ranked woman recurve archer Deepika Kumari of Jharkhand today created another national record when she shot 346 points in women's 50m round in the 34th Senior National Archery Championship at JRD Tata Sports Complex here.

World Cup silver medallist, Deepika shattered the previous best by Olympian L Bombalya Devi (RSPB), who had set up 333 points out of maximum 360, at the 32nd Sahara Senior National Recurve and Compound Championship here in January 2012

Former Olympian and teammate of Deepika at Tata Archery Academy, V Praneetha (Gujarat) finished second in the event with 332 points, while Reena Kumari (Jharkhand) scored 322 to clinch bronze. Deepika, who was in a fine nick in the championship, was also shooting the target well and was on the verge of making an overall championship record but for a mistake she committed in the FITA round, the archer lost her a medal in the 30 meter distance.

Following a shooting of six arrows in the event, Deepika removed them from the face (target) before the scorers could even record the points, which was in violation of FITA rule clause 14.2.1 and 17.1.1. The Jharkhand archer lost all the points she scored with set of six arrows.

The competition Director, H L Jindal said as per the clause of the FITA Rule, no archers can remove the arrows or touch the face before the scores were recorded by the scorers. Violation of the rule may even disqualify the archer, he said, adding that Deepika has no option but to forfeit the points she earned.

Had she not committed the mistake, Deepika could have created a new record even in the overall championship in the FITA event, which will not be take place from next year onwards. Asked whether Deepika was unaware of the FITA rule, a former World Cup winner said, she was aware of the rules but removed the arrows by mistake.

Earlier, Deepika has set up two national records in the in the 70 meters and 60 meters events of the FITA round on the opening day yesterday. Meanwhile, Jharkhand dominated the proceedings to top the medal chart with five gold, two silver and one bronze in the championship, while Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) was in second place with two gold and two silver.

Delhi with one gold and one silver finished third followed by Gujarat with a gold, two silver and a bronze.

In the women's 30 meter distance, Praneetha emerged champion after she scored 349 points, pushing Seema Verma (347 points) of UP to second place. Asha Rani Horo (Jharkhand) finished third with 346 points.

In a closely fought men's 30 meters distance, Olympians Jayanta Talukdar faced tough challenge from Tarundeep Rai (SSCB) but Talukdar emerged winner after scoring 355 points. Rai, meanwhile, earned 354 points.
Hurdup Tiriya (SPSB) claimed third place.

In the Olympic round of the event, top ranked archers, including Talukdar and Rai, lost their respective matches in the elimination round paving way for international archer Atanu Das (PSPB) to take on Muniram Tirkey (SSCB) in the men's individual recurve event final tomorrow.

Gurcharan Singh (Jharkhand) will meet Guruchara Besra (Bihar) in the men's section of the recurve for the third place. In the individual women's recurve event, five-time national champion Deepika will meet Praneetha in the final tomorrow.

The mixed team event in the compound section witnessed former international archer Jhano Hansdah and Sudhakar Paswan (Jharkhand) win the gold after beating Swati Dudhwal and Rajat Chouhan (Rajasthan) 152-150. Punjab pair of Ramandeep Kaur and Kawalpreet Singh had to be satisfied with a third-place finish with 152 points.

In compound section individual round final, Jhanu Hansdah will take on Ramandeep Kaur (Punjab), while Kamalpreet Singh (Punjab) will face Rajat Chouhan (Rajasthan) in the men's category tomorrow.