Tokyo Paralympics: Indian archer Rakesh Kumar loses to China’s Xinliang in quarter-finals

Tokyo [Japan], August 31 (ANI): Indian archer Rakesh Kumar missed out on semi-final berth by a whisker as he faced a 143-145 defeat at the hands of China’s Ai Xinliang in the Tokyo Paralympics on Tuesday.
Rakesh Kumar gave a neck to neck fight in all five rounds in the quarter-finals but the Chinese archer didn’t allow the Indian athlete to get over him.
The Indian athlete started off with a score of 29 in the first round however, Xinliang registered 30 in the same essay to take the charge.
The Chinese athlete then maintained his lead throughout the game as Rakesh lost the match 143-145 to bow out of the showpiece event.
Earlier in the day, Rakesh defeated Marian Marecak of Slovakia 140-137 to win his 1/8 elimination match.
Rakesh got off to bad start and was losing the game till rounds with a cumulative score of 53.
However, the Indian archer staged a comeback to take a slender lead of 81-80. He then continued his fine form and shots brilliantly in the last two rounds to win the game.
Another Indian archer Shyam Sundar had gone down 139-142 against Matt Stutzman of the USA in the individual compound open 1/16 elimination round on Saturday. (ANI)