Archers continue poor show at World Cup

New Delhi: Jhano Hansdah and Bheigyabati Chanu were the only Indians to manage wins on yet another miserable day for the country`s archers at the World Cup (Stage I) in Porec, Croatia.

Indian compound archers failed to lift the sagging spirits of the 21-member contingent with a trite display in the elimination round. Only veterans Jhano and Chanu won matches on a day when everybody else lost in the first round of action. Former national champion Jhano eased into the pre-quarterfinals where she was beaten by fourth seed American Erika Anschutz 140-144 points. Bheigyabati won her first round against Erika Anear of Australia but fell to 10th seed Marcella Tonioli of Italy, 134-139, in the next round.National champion Namita Yadav, ranked 19, failed to go past 46th-ranked Anne Lantee of Finland, losing 128-136 in the second round after getting a bye in the first round. Gagandeep Kaur, occupying the 26th position after the ranking round, got a first round bye but was stopped by 39th placed Viktoria Balzhanova of Russia, 132-136. The men compound archers were even worse. Reigning Asian champion, Isaiah Rajender Sanam, ranked 60th, lost to 53rd-ranked Swiss Gregoire Fumeaux by two points, 137-139.Commonwealth Games team gold medallists, C Srither, Ch. Jignas and Ritul Chatterjee, all stumbled in the first round. Srither lost to much lower-ranked Croat Vladimir Bartol 141-143, Jignas fell to Italian Pieto Greco 138-139 and Chatterjee was upstaged by 42nd placed Belgian Sam Kyritsoglou 138-142. Even in the newly introduced mixed team events, the Indians failed to make a mark. Having qualified as fourth seeds, recurve archers Rahul Banerjee and Deepika Kumari were defeated by 13th-ranked Polish team of Piotr Piatek and Justyna Mospinek 137-140 in the first round of the 16-team knockout competition. Srither and Namita too went out in the opening round losing to the Iranian pair of Amir Kazenpoor and Parsamehr Mahtab 143-145. PTI