India’s lone archer at the Youth Olympics, Gatha Khadake, bowed out of the women’s individual recurve U-18 competition after losing a shoot-off to sixth seed Yeeun Whang of the USA in a closely fought quarterfinal here on Monday.
After a gruelling five-set contest ended 5-5, Gatha lost 5-6 (9-9) with both archers scoring nine but Whang prevailing as her arrow was closer to the centre of the target.
The third-seeded Indian made a strong start, winning the opening set 29-27 to take a 2-0 lead.
She then dropped the second set 25-29 after shooting two eights as Whang drew level.
Gatha bounced back strongly in the third set, scoring 29 points against her opponent’s 25 to regain the lead at 4-2.
The fourth set proved crucial as Whang shot a 10 in her 27-point effort to edge out Gatha, who managed 26, and level the scores at 4-4.
Both archers shot 28 in the fifth set to take the contest into a shoot-off at 5-5.
In the one-arrow tie-breaker, both scored nine, but Whang edged ahead with her arrow closer to the centre of the target.
Earlier in the day, Gatha had stormed into the quarterfinals with a 6-0 straight-set win over Bulgaria’s Neda Kendarova, winning 28-27 25-23 27-26.
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