Indian men's archery team advanced to the semi-final stage after they defeated Japan 219-206 in the quarterfinal of the 15th Asian Games on Wednesday.
Updated at 7.35 pm
MR Mishra
DOHA: Indian archers avoided the embarrassment of returning empty-handed as they clinched a bronze medal in the Asian Games archery team event by getting the better of Malaysia in the third place play-off at the Lusail range here on Wednesday.
The Indian team comprising star archer Jayanta Talukdar, Tarundeep Rai, Mangal Singh Champia and Vishwas carved out a 211-207 victory over the Malaysians to fetch their only medal in the competitions.
The Indians first won against Japan 219-206 in the quarterfinals but lost to Chinese Taipei 210-220 at the last four stages to set up a bronze medal contest against Malaysia.
The Indians relied on their experience to pull off a narrow victory managing seven perfect 10s as compared to six by the Malaysians.
The women's team, however, could not make much of an impact as they lost to China in the quarterfinals.
The Indian team comprising Dola Banerjee, Reena Kumari, Punyaprabha and Chekrovolu Swuro had the agonising experience of missing a semi-final berth by just two points as they went down 199-201 to strong contenders China on another wind-swept day at the Lusail range.
The Indians paid the price for a poor show in the first round in which they managed scores of 28 and 24, against the Chinese who recorded scores of 30 and 25.
The Indians managed four perfect 10s like the Chinese but could not perform under pressure to make an early exit from the competitions.
Earlier, the Indians trounced Malaysia 197-166 to move into the quarterfinals.
Indian women's coach Dharmendra Tiwari said the team could have performed better.
"I am very disappointed. We were very close in the team event, but the last arrow was a problem. Dola also lost in the individual events by sheer bad luck," he said.
"I am happy with the overall performance considering the fact that we took part in the Asian Games for the first time," he added.
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