The world’s No. 1 recurve archer Deepika Kumari finished ninth in the women’s ranking round on the opening day of the much-awaited Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
Deepika Kumari managed 663 points out of a possible 720, hitting 30 10s and 13 X’s in her 72 arrows.
Meanwhile, the round was dominated by the top four Korean archers - who managed to break the Olympic record of 673 points in the qualification round - Korea’s An San (680), Jang Minhee (677), Kang Chae Young (675) and Mexico’s Alejandra Valencia (674).
India's medal prospect Deepika endured a challenging day as she kept shuffling on the leaderboard throughout the round.
The Ranchi-born archer started her day well and was comfortably in the top 10 but a 7 in the fourth end saw her drop down to 14th place.
By the halfway mark, the 27-year-old had climbed to fourth through a string of 10s and X’s, behind South Korea’s An San (345), Jang Minhee (339) and Mackenzie Brown (336) of USA.
Deepika Kumari hit three 7s and a couple of 8s in the second half, which pushed her down the order.
After finishing ninth in the ranking round, Deepika is now set to face 56th placed Bhu Karma from Bhutan in the first elimination round. Bhu Karma is 193rd in world rankings.
The Indian men’s trio of Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav will take the field next for the men’s ranking round.
