Archery: modest show by Indians in qualifying rounds

Kolkata, Nov 3 : Indian archers had mixed luck at the opening day of the four-day 3rd Asian Indoor Games archery competition at Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday.

Maisnam Chinglensana Luwang and Sakro Besra were third overall in the qualifying rounds of men's and women's compound events respectively at the Haiphong Youth Gymnasium, according to information received here. Luwang's total of 575 fetched him the joint third position while Sakro had a total of 567 for her sole third place.

However, the Indians finished lower down in the day's two other qualifying events in men's and women's recurve.

Rajib Basumatary was the best among Indian recurve men with a two-round total of 577 out of 600 points which got him an overall joint ninth position. Gurucharan Besra and Nanavath Ravinder were placed joint 12th with totals of 575 each. Waikhom Ranjan Singh was 17th overall with a total of 571 in a field of 45. Korea swept all the four top places.

In men's compound, Abhishek Verma was eighth with 571, Laishangbam Haridas Singh finished joint ninth with 569 and Jayantilal Nanoma stood 15th with 564 in a field of 24.

Vrushali Gorle was fifth in women's compound totalling 563 points. Sweety Kumari was ninth with 558 and veteran Bheigyabati Chanu 12th with 553 in a field of 20.

India's lone entry in women's recurve, Punyaprabha Kumari was ninth with 566 points in a field of 27.

Individual and team elimination round will be gone through in the next two days with the finals coming up Nov 6.

India has sent sent its second string archers for the Asian Indoor Games. The top archers are preparing for the 16th Asian Archery Championship beginning at Bali (Indonesia) from Nov 16.