India women archers suffer shock 3-5 defeat to Ukraine

Deepika Kumari. Pic/Getty Images

The Indian women's recurve team of Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur and Ankita Bhakat squandered their lead to suffer a shock 3-5 loss to lower-ranked Ukraine in the pre-quarterfinals of the Final Olympic Qualifier on Friday.

Having qualified as fifth seed, India got a bye into the pre-quarters and needed two wins in the elimination round to seal the Paris Olympic team quota place. The four semi-finalists in the women's recurve section get team quotas.

But the World No. 8 India, who are 10 notches above Ukraine in the global rankings, put up an atrocious display to blow away a 3-1 lead and went down 3-5 (51-51, 55-52, 53-54, 52-54). Indian women's recurve archery team, however, still can make the cut for Paris Olympics via rankings.

As per a new amendment to the qualification rule, the top-two nations in World Archery Rankings, who did not make the cut from the Qualifiers, will make the cut before the Games.

The Indian women's team are currently ranked No 8. South Korea, Germany, France, Mexico, USA, who are ahead of India in rankings, have already qualified.

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