India's Deepika Kumari was knocked out of the archery women's individual event at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday after losing 6-0 to South Korea's An San in the quarterfinals. This is Deepika's best finish in the individual event in three appearances at the Olympics.
Later on Friday, An, having already won gold medals in the women's team and mixed team events, went on to win gold in the individual event as well, becoming the first archer ever to win three gold medals at one Olympics, doing so in her debut Olympics appearance. However, the mixed team event made its Olympic debut this year, so the feat could not have been achieved before.
Deepika, seeded ninth on the basis of the ranking round held at the start of the Games, began poorly against An, who earned the top seeding by setting a new Olympic record of 680 in the ranking round. The Indian shot a 7 in her first arrow of the first set. She came back well to shoot two 10s in her next two arrows, but was left depending on errors from An for a chance in the set. However, An ensured there wasn't the slightest chance of that by shooting three 10s for a perfect 30.
Deepika had the better start to the second set by shooting 10 on the first arrow, while An shot 9. However, she let the slight advantage slip away by shooting two 7s on the next two arrows. An, meanwhile, shot 10 and 7 to win the set 26-24 and take a 4-0 lead in the match.
Deepika began the third set poorly as well, shooting a 7 once again, while An started with an 8. The Indian then shot 8 and 9, and although An was shooting below her usual high level, Deepika's scores just weren't enough to put her under any pressure. An shot two 9s on her last two arrows to win the set 26-24 and seal a 6-0 victory.
Earlier on Friday, Deepika set her quarterfinal clash against An with a 6-5 shoot-off win over Ksenia Perova of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in the pre-quarterfinals.
Deepika won the first set over eighth-seeded Perova. She shot 9, 10 and 9 for a total of 28, while Perova managed 9, 9 and 7 for a score of 25.
In the second set, Deepika shot a 10 and a 9, but a 7 on her third arrow proved costly. Perova shot 9, 8 and 10 to win the set 27-26 and level the match at 2-2.
In the third set, Deepika started strongly with a 10 and followed it up with two 9s for a total of 28. Perova was similarly consistent but shot three 9s, giving Deepika the set 28-27 and the match lead at 4-2.
Both archers shot 9, 8 and 9 in the fourth set to take a point each. Deepika still led the match 5-3 and was a set point away from victory. However, the Indian began the fifth set with a 7, and then shot 10 and 8 for a total of 25. Perova shot 9, 10 and 9 for 28, sending the match to a single-arrow shoot-off.
Deepika shot a 10 on her attempt, while Perova could only manage a 7, sending the Indian into the quarterfinals.
On Thursday, Atanu Das, Deepika's husband, knocked out South Korean legend Oh Jin-Hyek in similar fashion, shooting a 10 in the shoot-off, while Oh shot a 9. Atanu, seeded 35th, will face 46th seed Takaharu Furukawa of Japan in the pre-quarterfinals on Saturday. Atanu is now the last Indian archer still in contention in Tokyo.