Tokyo Paralympics: Archer Rakesh Kumar beats Ka Chuen, moves to round of 16

By ANI

TOKYO: Indian archer Rakesh Kumar on Saturday defeated Hong Kong’s Ngai Ka Chuen 144-131 to win his 1/16 elimination match of men’s individual compound event at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics.

With this win, Rakesh has now advanced to the next round in the Paralympics.

After breaking his personal best in the qualifying rounds, Rakesh started with 10, 10, 9 shots and took a lead of 29-27 at the end of the first three arrows.

He continued his fine form in the second and third and didn’t allow Ngai Ka Chuen to surpass him. The Indian archer held onto his position as he ended round three on top with a score of 87-79.

In the final few minutes, Rakesh fired arrows with utmost accuracy to seal the match with a score of 144-131.

Rakesh Kumar had a personal best of 699 points out of a possible 720, hitting 53 10s and 17 X’s in his 72 arrows on Friday.

Earlier in the day, para archer Shyam Sundar went down 139-142 against Matt Stutzman of the USA in the individual compound open 1/16 elimination round.

The Indian archer tried his best towards the end of the match while he was trailing but Stutzman finished things off in style to seal the match.

Shyam Sundar finished at the 21st position in the men’s individual archery ranking round. The Indian archer ended with a season-best of 682 points in the field.