Indian challenge in the Asian Games individual archery events came to an end with its two top archers Jayanta Talulkar and Mangal Singh Champia being eliminated in the quarterfinals at the Lusail Range in Doha on Tuesday.
Both the Indian archers won their first rounds but could not match their quarterfinal opponents in skill and concentration as the team finished their individual events without a single medal on a wind-swept day at the range.
Talukdar, billed as a medal prospect before leaving for Doha, lost to China's Wang Gang 102-108 and Champia went down to Japan's Wakino Tomakazu by a 98-102 margin.
The Chinese archer was in devastating form as he fired four perfect 10's in the first round in which he had an impressive scoreline of 10, 10, 10, 10, 9, 9 for a score of 58. His performance dipped a little in the second round in which he could manage a score of 50.
Talukdar, who won a gold medal in the world championships in Porec, managed decent scores of 52 and 50 in the two rounds but his effort was not enough to pose a threat to Wang.
"Wind always affect archers. Sometimes it is an advantage, sometimes a disadvanatge. Today it did not help me," Talukdar said.
Champia paid the price for a poor first round score of 45 in another quarter final match but his Japanese rival himself was not in great form.
Champia put up an improved performance in the second round but it was still not good enough to carry him to the semi-finals.
"My performance was not good. It is difficult to have control in such windy conditions," he said.
"For the team event, we will try to win. We have many good players in the team and we know the conditions. We will not repeat the same mistakes," Champia added.
The Indians could not fetch any medals in the individual women's section with Reena Kumari losing in the quarter finals and ace archer Dola Banerjee being shut out in the bronze medal play off. The team events will be held tomorrow.
Earlier, in the morning, Talukdar prevailed over Mongolia's Baatarjav Dambadonbog 98-93 to move into the quarter finals while Champia got the better of Manuja Kodikara of Sri Lanka 89-79.
