Tokyo: Indian athletes had given mixed results in men’s archery on day 5 at Tokyo Paralympics. Rakesh Kumar won the 1/16 compound open elimination tie 144-131 over Hong Kong’s Chuen K Ngai, however, Shyam Sundar Swami was eliminated 139-142 by USA’s Matt Stutzman.
Kumar began with 10, 10, 9 shots, breaking his personal best in the qualifying rounds, and seized a 29-27 lead after the first three arrows. In the second and third rounds, he maintained his excellent form and did not allow Ngai Ka Chuen to catch up to him. The Indian archer maintained his lead in round three, finishing with a score of 87-79.
Kumar blasted arrows with pinpoint accuracy in the final minutes to seal the match with a score of 144-131. He has now moved to the next round of the Paralympics with this victory.
Para archer Shyam Sundar Swami lost 139-142 to Matt Stutzman of the United States in the individual compound open 1/16 elimination round earlier in the day.
Although the Indian archer gave it his all near the end of the match while trailing, Stutzman finished the job in style to seal the victory.
In the men’s individual archery ranking round, Swami came in 21st place. The Indian archer finished with a season-best of 682 points in the field.
