Archery: Indian men a big let down on opening day

London : In an anti-climax to the pre-competition hype, Indian archery hit a new low on Day One of the 30th Olympic Games at Lord’s with the men coming up with a poor show in both the team and individual ranking round here Friday. In the team event, the Indians finished a shocking 12th out of 20 teams. The combination of Rahul Banerjee, Tarundeep Rai and Jayanta Talukdar, ranked third in the world, totalled a pathetic 1969 points to take the last spot and would be pitted against fifth-ranked Japan in the pre-quarters. The two teams had clashed in the Ogden Olympic qualifying match where India lost. However, the Indian team’s fate seems all but sealed as it finds itself in the top half alongside defending Olympic champion Korea and World No.1 team, the US, in the team elimination round that will get underway at the iconic venue Saturday. The team finals will also take place during the same day awarding the first medal in the discipline. The winner of the Indo-Japan duo would come up against the US in the quarterfinals. Title holders Korea gave an awesome display to set up two world and Olympic records for the team and individual totals. The top four finishers Korea, France, China and the US got a bye into the last eight. The Indians also disappointed in the individual race, with Rai grabbing the 31st spot logging 664 points. Banerjee was 46th with 655 and Talukdar 53rd with 650 in the ranking round. In the elimination round, Rai will play 34th ranked Juan Carlos Stevens of Cuba in the opener while Banerjee takes on 19th ranked Mongolian Jantsan Gantugs. The off-colour Talukdar has the toughest draw meeting 12th ranked Jacob Wukie of the US. The Korean trio of Im Dong Hyun, Kim Bubmin and Oh Jin Hyek totalled 2087 points to establish a new world and Olympic record. Both the previous records were set by Korea. The world record score so far was 2069 at the Antalya World Cup earlier this year and the Olympic record stood at 2031 struck at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Im Dong Hyun’s individual score of 699 bettered his own world record of 696 set at Antalya earlier this year and erased the Olympic mark of 684 points shot by Michele Frangilli of Italy in 1996. World No.1 archer American Brady Ellison of the US was way below his best finishing 10th with a score of 676.