Tokyo Olympics: Archer Deepika Kumari express displeasure over selection of the mixed team

Following her crashing out of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 in the Quarterfinals, Archer Deepika Kumari on Saturday, July 31, made a comment on the selection for the mixed team event. Deepika Kumari said that the federation should not have decided on her partner for the event on the basis of one performance in the men’s individual ranking round at the showpiece event. Deepika who had trained in the past alongside archer Atanu Das was teamed up with Pravin Jadhav at the Tokyo Olympics.

Deepika Kumari questions the federation's decision of picking partners

Based on the men’s individual ranking round, Pravin Jadhav stood above Atanu Das in rankings as he secured the 31st spot while Atanu finished at the 35th spot. The federation, hence, chose Pravin to be Deepika’s partner in the mixed team event. Deepika has now come out and spoken against this decision. Earlier, the pairing of Atanu and Deepika has worked well as they have also won gold in the Paris World Cup Stage 3 which was played only a month prior to the Tokyo Olympics.

The team-up of Deepika and Pravin ended up losing the quarterfinals in the Tokyo Olympics against An San and Kim Je Deok. “The matter has closed, we cannot do anything about it. If at that time, a decision was taken strongly then the situation might have been different. Obviously, there are qualities that an athlete has, team coordination is also very important. We prepared together for many years but here it came to an end,” Deepika said after Atanu’s match on Saturday.

“You judge everything on one performance, but you do not judge what you have done over the past few years. I would say just take a strong decision and don’t base your opinion based on one performance,” Deepika added while talking about her partnership with her husband Atanu.

Atanu & Deepika crash out of the tournament

Earlier on Saturday, Atanu Das bowed out of men’s individual event after losing to Japan’s Takaharu Furukawa in the 1/8 Eliminations Round at Yumenoshima Park. Furukawa defeated the 29-year-old 6-4 in the decider to cruise into the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Deepika also crashed out of the women’s individual event after losing 6-0 to South Korea’s An San.

IMAGE: AP