Tokyo: Archer Deepika not to partner husband Atanu Das but Pravin Jadhav

ACE India's archer Deepika Kumari will pair with Pravin Jadhav in the discipline’s mixed-par event at the Tokyo Olympic Games which kicked off on Friday (23).

Jadhav, a debutant, was preferred by the Indian think-tank ahead of Deepika’s husband Atanu Das, who is also more experienced, based on the form shown in the qualification round held on Friday.

The mixed pair event, which will make its debut at the Games here on Saturday (24), is seen as one of India’s best medal hopes. India are yet to win an Olympic medal in archery, a sporting discipline in which it has bagged top laurels at other global competitions.

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Deepika finished ninth in the individual ranking round earlier in the day and based on the combined scores of her and Jadhav, India got a similar ninth-place ranking for the mixed pair competition as well. In the men's team, too, India got the ninth rank.

Pravin Jadhav (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

India had the option to send the entries of Deepika and Das, who recently won a gold together at the Paris World Cup but the federation eventually preferred Jadhav.

'Jadhav picked on his current form'

“Simply put, we picked Jadhav based on his current form, it’s no rocket science,” Archery Association of India official Virendra Sachdeva, who is accompanying the team in Tokyo, told PTI. “We could have also chosen Rai being the most experienced. We decided to give Jadhav the opportunity based on his performance in the ranking round,” he added.

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“Jadhav is a new talent, while Deepika has got the experience. Hopefully they will do well together. Despite tremendous pressure, the players are trying to give their best,” Sachdeva added.

Deepika and Das, who tied the knot last year, are the first Indian couple to participate in the same discipline at the quadrennial event.

India are expected to meet top seed Korea (featuring Kim Je-deok and An San, both of whom finished top in their individual ranking rounds) in the quarters after overcoming eighth-ranked Kazakhstan.

In all likelihood, India would run into top seed Korea in the quarters after overcoming eighth-ranked Kazakhstan.

The Indian men’s individual rankings were disappointing as the trio of Das, Jadhav and veteran Tarundeep Rai finished in the bottom half.

Jadhav was the best among the three with 656 points which earned him the 31st spot. Das, the country’s No.1, finished four places down while Rai, who appeared for his third Olympics, ended with the 37th rank among 64 contestants.