The Hindu : Sport / Archery : Dola loses in quarterfinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 01, 2004

Sport

Sport - Archery

Dola loses in quarterfinals

KOLKATA, APRIL 30. Dola Banerjee's dream run ended abruptly in the quarterfinals of the first European Grand Prix archery championship at Rovereto in Italy on Friday. Dola, the only saving grace amid poor Indian show in the individual elimination round, lost to top-ranked Chinese Zhang Janjuan 110-107. India's medal hopes now rest in the team championship to be held on Saturday.

Dola moved into the quarterfinals in the women's individual competition with three fine victories. She defeated 41st ranked Fabiola Palazzini of Italy in the round of 64 by 166 points to 153 before pipping ninth-ranked Kateryna Palekha of Ukraine in the round of 32. Dola, ranked 24th, and Kateryna were tied at 163 and the winner was decided in the one-arrow tiebreak. She then overcame eighth-ranked Chinese Sang Lin in the pre-quarterfinals 155-151.

Reena Kumari and Chekrovolu Swuro fell by the wayside in the first round itself. Reena, who was ranked 20th, lost to 45th ranked Malgorzata Sobieraj of Poland 153-159 while the 31st ranked Chekrovolu lost to Shamani Ganesen of Malaysia, ranked 34th, at 154-156. Shamani, however, lost to second ranked Natalia Valeeva in the next round. It was nothing short of disaster in the men's individual elimination round. India's top-ranked archer Satyadev Prasad and Viswas were the only two out of the six men who moved into the elimination round. Viswas finished ahead of Prasad with a total of 628 points from two 70m competitions while Prasad totalled 626.

The two, however, lost in the round of 32 to higher ranked opponents. Prasad defeated the 29th ranked Francesco Lunelli of Italy 163-159 before biting the dust in the round of 32 against fourth-ranked Marco Galiazzo of Italy at 155-163. Viswas beat the 30th ranked Asah Mohd Kaharuddin of Malaysia 166-159 but went down to third-ranked Baljinina Tsyrempilov of Russia at 163-164. Tarundeep Rai was the biggest letdown finishing 89th with a total of 604. Majhi Sawaiyan ended 80th with 608 and National champion Harish Chand Kerai 85th with 607. Mukesh Khillare was 106th with 590. All these four failed to make the cut. However, like the women's team, the men's team also made it to the team championship as the 14th ranked outfit. India will meet the third ranked Ukraine in the round of 16. — Our Special Correspondent

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport