Deepika Kumari, Atanau Das win individual titles

Jamshedpur: Top ranked women recurve archer Deepika Kumari (Jharkhand) retained the individual title, while in the men's section Atanau Das (PSPB) emerged winner in the Individual Olympic Round of the 34th Senior National Archery Championship at JRD Tata Sports complex here today.

Former international Jhanu Hansdah (Jharkhand) and international archer Rajat Chouhan (Rajasthan) became women and men national champions in the compound section of the championship. Deepika beat V Praneetha (Gujarat) in the final 604 set to become national champion for the sixth time on the trot.

"It was a tough match against Praneetha but I enjoyed playing tough matches and winning it," Deepika said. "I will now concentrate on the forthcoming Asian Games to be held in South Korea in 2014," she added.

Reena Kumar (Jharkhand) finished third. In the men's section, a 38-year-old Muniram Tirkey (SSCB), a 1999 national champion, put up a stiff challenge to Das, who maintained the lead right from the start and did not allow the armyman to surge ahead.

Das defeated Tirkey, a native of West Bengal, 6-4, while Churucharan Besra (Bihar) trounced Gurucharan Singh (Jharkhand) to claim the bronze. Jharkhand with 10 gold, two silver and five bronze topped the medal chart followed by SSCB with three gold, three silver and three bronze.

Punjab with one gold, three silver and four bronze settled for the third spot. Olympian pair of Jayanta Talukdar and Deepika Kumari (Jharkhand) also won the recurve mixed team event defeating Sanjay Boro and Mainaw Narzary (Assam) 151-139, while Lovejot Singh and Mdhu (Punjab) clinched the bronze.

In the team event, Jharkhand women comprising of Deepika Kumari, Reena Kumari, Sita Rani Tudu and Asha Rani Horo shot 203 points to lead the charge pushing Punjab's archers Madhu, Preeti, Priyanka and Komal Sharma, who scored 202.

Tapasi Mandal, Antra Basak, Rimil Hembram and Reshma Banerjee of West Bengal had to content with a bronze with 201 points. SSCB archers consisting of Olympian Tarundeep Rai, Vishwas, M R Tirkey and Ganga Kanwar shot the bull's eye to bag gold with 219 points, while Sanjay Boro, Rajib Basumatary, Swmla Boro and Hemlat Basumatary of Assam finished second with 214 points.

Himachal Pradesh team comprising of Raj Govind Swansi, Mukesh Tamang, K Shiva Shankar and Raju K C shot a total of 203 points to clinch bronze. In the compound section, Kawalpreet Singh, Sukhbir Singh, Jaspreet Singh and Amanjit Singh representing Punjab emerged victorious with 224 points defeating Himachal Pradesh archers comprising of Khyam Bdr Poudal Chhetri, Khogendra Biruly, Sanjog Khadka and Sushil Thapa, who scored 215.

SSCB team Ch Jignas, Sandeep Kumar, Kh Ratan Singh and Th Govindas Singh scored 227 points to win bronze. Bihar's Anjali Kumari, Priyanshu Kachhap, Renu Munda and Leela Day clinched the women team event title of the compound section beating Manipur represented by P Lily Chanu, Gitanjali Laishram, R K Satyapriya Devi and G Dhaneshwori Devi 222-216.

Punjab archers comprised of Ramandeep Kaur, Trisha Deb, Parveena and Gangajot Kaur had to settle for a bronze with 217 points. In the Individual Olympic Round, Hansdah exhibited her skill and shot with accuracy to earn highest 137 points against her Punjab rival Ramandeep Kaur, who scored 132 points to win silver medal.

In men's section, it was tough contest between the winner Rajat Chouhan (Rajasthan) and Kawalpreet Singh (Punjab) but Chouhan succeeded in maintaining his lead till the end defeating Singh with a margin of 144-142 points.