Paris [France], July 31 (ANI): India’s star paddler Manika Batra and archer Tarundeep Rai’s campaign in the ongoing Paris Olympics ended after they bowed out of their respective events on Wednesday.
In the Round of 16 of the women’s singles event, Manika struggled to keep up with Japan’s Miu Hirano’s attacking intensity. In the men’s individual archery event, Tarundeep fell short against Great Britain’s Tom Hall in a closely fought contest.
It wasn’t the ideal start that Manika would have desired in the Round of 16 clash against the Japanese paddler. The eighth seed, Miu Hirano, left little or no room for error throughout the first game. In a quick-fire round, she raced to an 11-6 win.
At one moment, Manika trailed by just a single point when the scoreline read 5-6 in favour of the Japanese. But Miu upped the ante and breezed past Manika in the first game.
In the second game, Miu heavily relied on her attacking approach, and Manika replied with her defensive prowess. While backing her defensive approach, Manika managed to force out a couple of errors from the Japanese. With the score level at 9-9, Manika failed to bag two consecutive points and ended up trailing by 2-0.
In the third game, Manika had an upper hand on the Japanese paddler as she raced to a 7-2 lead. A couple of unforced errors allowed Miu to orchestrate a comeback in the game. She managed to claw back and restore parity in the game, with the scoreline reading 9-9. Unlike in the previous game, Manika held her composure and took away the game by 14-12.
With the scoreline reading 2-1 and Manika eyeing a comeback, the Indian found herself trailing by 6-2 in the fourth game. She gradually recovered by claiming four consecutive points, but Miu made the equation 3-1 by sealing the fourth game 11-8.
In the fourth game, Manika put her exquisite defensive play on display, but Miu’s attacking play turned out to be too much for the Indian paddler. The Japanese moved into the quarter-finals with an 11-6 win.
Moments after Manika’s loss, India’s archer, Tarundeep Rai, was in action against Great Britain’s Tom Hall. The first set finished level, with both archers accumulating 27 points each.
Tarundeep lost the second set after hitting three nines, and Hall hit a ten after pulling off two consecutive nines.
The Indian archer bounced back in the third set after finishing at 27. In reply, Hall could only muster up 25, which brought the game to a parity of 3-3.
Tarundeep went on to lose the next set and draw the fifth (6-4), which ended his run in the event at the Paris Olympics. (ANI)
