NEW DELHI: Indian archer Pooja Jatyan fell from a two-set lead to lose 4-6 against China's
Wu Chunyan
in the women's recurve open quarterfinals at the
Paris Paralympics
on Tuesday.
Despite a strong start, the 27-year-old archer succumbed to pressure, allowing the experienced Chunyan to stage a comeback and take victory.
Wu Chunyan, a seasoned archer with four
Paralympics
medals including a team gold from the 2016 Rio Games, had a rough beginning.
She scored poorly in the first set, hitting the 7-point red ring twice and totaling 23 points. Pooja capitalized on Wu's missteps, losing only two points in the first set and winning by a five-point margin.
Pooja continued her effective performance, taking the second set 25-24 with a perfect 10 in her final arrow, extending her lead to 4-0. She needed only one more set to secure a spot in her maiden semifinals. However, her final arrow in the third set was a 7, which allowed Wu to take the set 28-27 and narrow the score to 2-4.
Facing mounting pressure, Pooja's performance began to falter. She managed only 24 points in the fourth set, allowing Wu to level the score at 4-4. Wu sealed her win in the decider by scoring 27-24 and delivered a perfect 10 with her final arrow.
Before the quarterfinals, Pooja had shown strong potential, beating Turkey's Yagmur Sengul in straight sets. She won the first set by hitting three consecutive 9s and dominated the second set with 26 points while her opponent managed only 22, leading Pooja to a 2-0 advantage.
Sengul offered some resistance in the third set, hitting two 9s and an 8. However, Pooja remained composed, edging out Sengul by one point to clinch the win.
Pooja's journey in archery has been noteworthy. At just two months old, she developed polio in her left leg due to a high fever and a wrong injection, an unfortunate incident of medical negligence. Despite this, she took up archery during her childhood, displaying remarkable resilience.
Her achievements include winning a silver medal in the women's team event at the 2023 Asian Para Championship. In 2024, she secured a silver at the 8th Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament and claimed gold medals in both the Women's Team and Mixed Team events at the Para Archery European Cup 2nd Leg.
In the recurve open category, archers shoot from a standing position at a distance of 70m, aiming at a 122cm target composed of 10 concentric circles. These circles score from 10 points at the center down to 1 point at the outermost ring.
English (US) ·