World No. 1 Deepika Kumari advanced to the Round of 16 in the women's individual archery after defeating Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez of the United States 6-4 in a closely contested match on Wednesday at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
Deepika, 27, lost the first set after shooting 25 (7, 9, 9) to the American's 26 (9, 10, 7) at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field.
Deepika then won the second set with a stunning comeback of 28 (8, 10, 10) while MucinoFernandez only shot 25. In the third set, she shot a 10, 9, and 8 to outscore the American 27- 25 and take the match lead.
Deepika Kumari shot 6 with her second arrow in the fourth set, losing the set and tying the score at 4-4. She started the fifth set with two 9s and ended with an 8 to score 26.
Fernandez had started with two 8s, but with a 10 needed to tie the match, the American could only shoot a 9 with her final arrow, handing the Indian archer the victory.
In the Round of 64, the Indian archer defeated Bhutan's Bhu Karma 6-0.
Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav have already been eliminated from the mixed team archery event after losing to South Korea.
She won a gold medal in the women's individual recurve event at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She also won a gold medal in the women's team recurve event in the same competition, alongside Dola Banerjee and Bombayala Devi. She has won individual gold in two of the three World Cup stages, one in Guatemala and one in Paris.
In the process, she reclaimed the number one ranking in the Paris World Cup after nine years. Individual gold medals were won by Deepika Kumari at the Archery World Cup Stage 1 competition. Deepika Kumari also won gold in Paris, defeating Mexico 5-1 in the final.
