Rio 2016 : Bombayla Devi makes way to pre-quarters
Source: The Sangai Express / Press Trust of India
Rio De Janeiro, August 10 2016:
Experienced Indian archer
Laishram Bombayla Devi advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of
the women's individual recurve competition after defeating
Chinese Taipei's Lin Shih-Chia at the Rio Olympics here on
Wednesday.
Playing in her third Olympics, the 31-year-old from
Manipur, who finished 24th in the ranking round, dished out a
dominating show to get the better off Lin 6-2, in the 1/16
elimination here.
Earlier in the 1/32 elimination round, the Indian had
rallied her way to beat Austria's Laurence Baldauff 6-2.
Bombayla, who had lost in the second round of women's
individual recurve event at the London Olympics, outclassed
Lin 27-24, 27-24, 26-27, 28-26 to reach the pre-quarterfinals.
Up against Lin, who had already clinched a bronze
medal in the women's team event, Bombayla started with a
10 and then hit 8 and 9 to total 27 as against 24 (8, 7, 9)
of her opponent.
The Indian scored 8, 9, 10 against Lin's hat-trick of 8s
to clinch the second set.
In the third set, the Chinese Taipei
girl hit the bull's eye twice even as Bombayla came up with
a 7 and 9 in the first two shots.
In the final shot, the Indian
hit a 10 but that was not enough to win the set.
In the fourth set, Bombayla once again produced a per-
fect score of 10 and then hit 9 twice against Lin's 7, 9, 10
to seal the issue in her favour.
Earlier, Bombayla showed tremendous nerves as she
bounced back after losing the first set to outclass Laurence
in the second, third and fourth set in the first round.
Bombayla, who was the best Indian performer in the
women's team event, scored a 24-27, 28-24, 27-23, 26-24
win in the 1/32 elimination round.
The 41-year-old Laurence started off well with a hat-trick
of 9s in the first set to get the better of the Indian, who
started off with a 9 but then shot 7 consecutively.
However, Bombayla hit the bulls eye to start the second
set on a dominating note and then produced consecutive 9s
to bounce back into the contest.
She produced a hat-trick of
9s in the third set to lead 4-2, before sealing the contest with
a series of 9, 9, 8 in the fourth set.
India's Atanu Das had also entered the pre-quarterfinals
of the Individual men's recurve event on Tuesday.