World No. 1 archer Deepika Kumari survived some anxious moments before getting past U.S. teenager Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez 6-4 to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the women's individual section and keep Indian medal hopes alive at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday.
On a day her teammates Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav made second-round exits, Deepika seemed to feel the pressure initially as she started off hitting the red-zone, capping a poor seven at the floodlit Yumenoshima Park.
Deepika lost the first set by one point but she bounced back strongly with three 10s in a row to take a 4-2 lead. She, however, failed to wrap up the match in the fourth set as she misfired a six in her second arrow.
The 18-year-old American made it 4-4, winning the set by one-point (25-24). In the winner-takes-all fifth set, Deepika had two 9s to start with before finishing with a poor 8.
Needing a 10 in her last arrow to force a shoot-off, Mucino-Fernandez signed off with a nine in what was a promising campaign for the American teenager.
Deepika's husband Atanu Das is the only other Indian left in the fray. The India No. 1, who slipped to 35th place in the ranking, begins his campaign against Deng Yu-Cheng of Chinese Taipei in his opening round of 64 match on Thursday.
Earlier, Deepika sailed into the second round with an easy 6-0 win over lower-ranked Karma of Bhutan in her opening match.
Before Rio 2016, Deepika had raised the expectations once again but only to make a pre-quarter final exit.
"Meri kismat hi kharab hai (I guess it's my bad luck). I don't know what's there in store for me. Every time before the Olympics, I win something to be in the limelight. Honestly I don't want to be highlighted but it just happens," she said.
Deepika, who qualified as ninth seed, had an easy first round draw against world no 193 Karma but there too she struggled to get her best scores and shot a solitary 10 in a three-setter.
Against the US debutant Jennifer, Deepika shot in the red-circle four times and misfired a 6 but only to survive in a low-scoring affair.
"It's completely opposite to the last time (during the Tokyo2020 Test Event in 2019). Maybe I struggled to read the wind properly. There's a lot of wind movements. Honestly I was not able to perform up to the mark." "Even that six was a shock for me and I'm clueless how it happened as I thought I had a good release. I get nervous when I have a bad shot but I'm trying my best to be confident," she said.
Deepika will have a two-day break before gearing up for her big day on Saturday when the women's individual medals will be decided.
Asked whether she has judged the conditions well now," she said: "I can't say I've judged well. The weather is not in your hands, it keeps changing every second. Let's hope for the best (on Saturday)." Deepika's husband Atanu Das is the lone male archer left in the fray. He will face Deng Yu-Cheng of Chinese Taipei in his opening round of 64 match on Thursday.
World No. 193 Karma, the flag bearer of Bhutan -- a country where archery is the national sport -- during the opening ceremony, had poor scores of 23, 23 and 24 in the third set where she managed a 10.
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The Indian also had a slow start, scoring 26 each in the first two sets, before picking up with a 27 to seal her last-32 berth.
Earlier, Olympic debutant Jadhav knocked out world number 2 Galsan Bazarzhapov in his opening match only to suffer a heavy defeat to world champion Brady Ellison in the second round.
The 25-year-old was at his best in his first-round match, beating Bazarzhapov of Russian Olympic Committee in straight sets. But, he lost to Ellison, the American world No. one in his next match.
Ellison also misfired in the second and third sets in the red rings with two 8s, but Jadhav hit two 7s and 8s in four arrows to join his senior Army colleague Tarundeep Rai in making a second-round exit.
Rai had lost to Itay Shanny of Israel in a tight shoot-off in his final Olympics.
Jadhav, who was the best Indian with a 31st place in the ranking round, had raised expectations for the misfiring Indian archers as he dropped just one point to win the first set en route to a stunning 6-0 win against Bazarzhapov under windy conditions at the Yumenoshima Park.
Fresh from winning the title at the Final Qualifier for Tokyo Games in Paris last month, Bazarzhapov drilled in two 10s in the next set. But the wind got the better of him as he misfired his next three arrows (7-8-7), while Jadhav remained unfazed and hit consistently in the 9-10 rings to seal the match.
A repeat of his first round scores of 29-28-27 would have been enough in the tricky second-round clash against Ellison who had a sequence of 28-27-26. But Jadhav shot 27-26-23 that snuffed out any little chance he had for advancing in the second round.
Earlier, Rai and Shanny were both locked 5-5, but Shanny, who is 15 years younger to Rai, sealed the match 10-9 with a perfect score in the shoot-off.
The world No. 92 Israeli, who had knocked out Japanese team event bronze medallist Muto Hiroki in the first round, was superior to the Indian at the death as he shot three 10s from the final four arrows to enter the pre-quarterfinals.
This was the second successive round two exit for three-time Olympian Rai, who made his Games debut at Athens 2004. In 2012 London Olympics too, Rai had lost in the second round.
The 37-year-old Army man, who had a thrilling come-from-behind 6-4 win over Oleksii Hunbin of Ukraine in the first round, once again showed remarkable poise as he bounced back to lead 5-3 from a 0-2 deficit.
Needing a tie in the fifth set to move into last-16, Rai faltered and Shanny won the set by two points, drilling in two 10s and a nine, as against the Indian's sequence of 9-8-9.
A perfect 10 kept eluding Rai and the world No. 54 started the proceedings in the shoot-off with a 9, while Shanny sealed the issue with a 10. Rai was severely affected by wind as he shot a poor seven to lose the first set by four points before levelling the match 2-2 by winning the second set by slender margin of one point.
A series of six 9s by Shanny meant that Rai snatched a 5-3 lead but failed to tie the fifth set.