Riya Tewatia overpowers Himani Kumari to win U21 archery match

Riya Tewatia turned the tables on fancied Haryana teammate Himani Kumari to win the girls Under-21 recurve bronze medal play-off in the Khelo India Games archery competition here Saturday. Riya made the most of Himani's break in concentration when a change in set scores saw them locked 3-3 after three sets.

Himani and all onlookers were under the impression that after the tie in the third set, she was leading 4-1 but the scorers pointed out that the previous set had erroneously been awarded to her when, in fact, it was Riya who had won that set, a media release said. Himani was unable to find her rhythm though she managed to tie the fourth set. She was off the mark in the shoot-off.

Maharashtra's Shukmani Gajanan Babrekar rallied from the loss of the first set to defeat Rajasthan's Jagdish Choudhary 6-2 for the boys Under-21 recurve bronze medal. Karni Singh Chauhan (Rajasthan) and Punjab's Amanpreet Kaur earned the boys and girls under-17 bronze medals respectively.

Sumit Kumar (Haryana), Swarna Jhawar (Rajasthan), Rishabh Yadav (Haryana) and Priya Gurjar (Rajasthan) won the compound archery bronze medal play-offs in the four categories on a day when Youth Olympic Games recurve silver medallist Akash lost in the quarter-finals and Ankita Bhakat, who competed in the Asian Games, lost in the first round to Bhagyashri Kolte. Recurve archers B Dhiraj (boys Under-21) and Komolika Bari (girls Under-17) were the only ones who topped the ranking rounds in their respective sections and went on to secure berths in the final.

The highlight of the day was a brave effort by Asian Games silver medallist Muskan Kirar (Madhya Pradesh), who ignored shoulder muscle spasms to make it to girls under-21 compound final.