Tokyo: India's second day at the Tokyo Olympics is going through a topsy-turvy journey. After a disappointing performance in shooting, Indian archers came up with decent performances as Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav beat Chinese Taipei pair 5-3 in the 1/8 Eliminator round to seal their place in the quarterfinals here.
The mixed duo were initially trailing 1-3 but came back strongly to book a place in the quarterfinals here. The pair was on the verge on losing out before they came back strongly and arrowed two perfect 10s and sealed the deal 5-3.
"We desperately want to win an Olympic medal in archery and it just happened like that," Deepika said after the win.
The pair will face the top seed of Korea and Bangladesh later in the day.
"We need lots of confidence, it's about putting all our experience and hardwork together here. Just think as if it's your last Olympics, your only chance.
"We tried our very best and we will try hard in the upcoming matches. We are determined to win a medal here," she said, as the country chases its first-ever Olympic medal in the sport.
After poor show in the men's ranking round yesterday, the Indian team had to break the combination of Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari, who are the first Indian couple to participate in the same discipline in the Summer Games.
The couple had performed exceptionally well in the Paris World Cup a month ago but the Indian management sent Jadhav, who is making his Olympic debut, to pair up with Deepika. In fact, Deepika was against the decision but a good show in the men's ranking round and form favoured Jadhav.
"It (the decision) mattered, as I really wanted to play with him (Atanu), but it did not happen. Anyway I've to continue performing irrespective of the situation," she said.
"I am a little sad that he is not with me in the mixed team. But we have to shoot, you have to win, so just go ahead," Deepika added when asked about her husband Atanu.
Their partnership began on a sour note as two 8s cost them the opening set narrowly (35-36), but they bounced back strongly to draw the second set (38-38) by drilling in two perfect 10s.
Jadhav found form and the Indian mixed pair was sensational in the third set, drilling in 40 out of 40 to edge out the opponents by five points (40-35) and make it three-all.
There was drama in store in the decider as the duo trailed by two points (17-19) after two arrows each.
In the final two arrows, Lin Chia-En and Tang Chih-Chun shot an 8 and 9 to open the doors for India, and Deepika and Jadhav clinched it with two perfect 10s.
