Para Sports
Para Archery World Ranking Series: Rakesh Kumar, Pooja Jatyan into final
Rakesh Kumar in men's compound while Pooja Jatyan in women's recurve into the final of Para-archery world ranking series
Rakesh Kumar in the men's compound while Pooja Jatyan in women's recurve makes it to the Individual final of the 8th Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament in Dubai, UAE on Tuesday.
Rakesh Kumar, ranked second in the world recovers a big deficit of three points at the end of the three rounds to topple (145-143) the world no.3, Kevin Polish of USA in the semis.
He showed excellent archery throughout the elimination round and was consistently scoring high scores of 145 or more in all four rounds of elimination. He also got better than fellow Indian Shyam Sundar Swami in a high-scoring (147-145) quarterfinal.
The experienced archer will be up against his Asian rival Ken Swagumilang of Indonesia in the title clash on 7th March.
Former world medalist, Pooja Jatyan has also made it to the final, she upset (7-3) the second-seeded Japanese player, Chika Shigesada in the semis to book a place in the final of an international event after two years.
The 26-year-old, Pooja will face the first-seeded and world no.4 Italian player, Mijno Elisabetta on 7th March. This will be a tough task for her as Mijno is in great form coming after her European Championships gold medal.
No final for world no.1, Sheetal Devi
The first-female armless archer and the world no.1 women's compound player, Sheetal Devi could not manage to win a medal at the event after losing a close quarterfinal match.
She suffered a shootoff loss despite hitting a very good score of 142 against the French player, Julin Chupin Rigault. In the shoot-off, both players shot a 10 but on the virtue of the closest to the center, the French player progressed to the next round.
Meanwhile, Sheetal joining hands with Rakesh Kumar has made it to the bronze medal match of the compound mixed team, they will face South Korea on the 7th of March.
Quotas on offer for Recurve players
Indian recurve players have the last opportunity to add two more quotas for the Paris Paralympics 2024 through the Final Qualifying tournament tomorrow. They already have one quota in each of the recurve disciplines.
Vivek Chikara and Praveen in men's while Pooja Khanna and Bhawna in women's will be fighting for the one quota in each of men's and women's recurve event. The two finalists of each event will grab the Quota for their NOCs.
The compound archers have already secured there all four available spots for this prestigious event.