Das-Ankita fight back to oust Malaysia; Indian archers make quarters in four events

The Indian recurve mixed pair archery duo of Atanu Das and Ankita Bhakat showed tenacity to defeat Malayasia in a three-setter and sail into quarterfinals at the Asian Games here on Monday.

Indian archers stormed into last-eight in three team events -- recurve mixed, compound mixed, compound men's team -- when the elimination round got underway at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre here.

As of now, India are in medal contention in four events with the top-seeded women's team compound archers getting a bye into the quarters.

Fifth seeded Indian duo of Das and Ankita rallied to beat Malaysian team of Syaqiera Binti Mashayikh, Muhamad Zarif Syahir Bin Zolkepeli 6-2 (39-38, 37-36, 39-33).

The Malaysia duo enjoyed a 2-0 lead with three 10s including one X in the first set.

But the experienced Indian duo bounced back with two 10s and went on to level as the Malaysians crumbled under pressure.

The Malaysians hit the red-ring (8) once and went on to lose the second by a slender one-point margin.

There was more misery in store for the Malaysians who shot into the red ring thrice (8-8-8), while Das-Ankita drilled in three perfect 10s en route to a six-point win in the third set.

The Indian pair sealed the issue with three more 10s in the fourth set and set up a last-eight clash against fourth-seeded Indonesians.

Should they overcome the Indonesian challenge, the Indians may run into the top-seeded Koreans in potential semifinal clash in Olympic-qualifying event.

There are six quota spots available from the Asian Games -- to the recurve mixed team winner, as well as another two archers ranked highly in the individual events.

In the compound mixed team, top-seeded Indian duo of Ojas Deotale and Jyothi Surekha Vennam dropped just one point from 16 arrows to eliminate UAE's Amna Alawadhi and Mohammed Binamro 159-151.

The duo will take on formidable Malaysia (No 8 seed) in the quarters and thereafter they have an easy draw till the final.

In compound men's team event, second-seeded Indians trio of Ojas, Abhishek Verma and Prathamesh Jawkar thrashed 15th seed Singapore (Woon Teng NG, Lee Chung Hee Alan, Jun Hui Goh) 235-219.

The Indian triumvirate had a cautious start and had four 10s to take 58-55 lead.

But the Indians came on their own from second end onwards and dropped just three points to rout their rivals by a 16-point margin.

The compound men's team is now pitted against lower-ranked Bhutan in the quarters and will have a potential semifinal clash against third seeded Chinese Taipei.

The top-seeded Indian women's compound team of Jyothi, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur, who got a bye into the quarters, will open its campaign against ninth-seeded Hong Kong who ousted Bangladesh 225-218.