World Championships: Indian men's recurve archers crash out of individual section

Gwangju (South Korea), Sep 10 (PTI) Indian men's recurve archers endured a disappointing outing as all of them bowed out in the individual rounds, failing to make the medal stages at the World Championships, here on Wednesday.

Debutant Rahul was the most impressive among the trio, making the third round (last-32) before going down 5-6 (8-10) to Aleksandre Machavariani of Georgia in the shoot-off.

The 21-year-old held a commanding 5-3 lead but faltered in the last two sets, once again exposing India's mental frailties under pressure in the Olympic recurve category.

After drawing the opening set 28-all, Rahul shot a perfect 30/30 in the second and edged the third 28-27 to go 5-1 up.

Needing only a draw in the fourth, he faltered with an 8 as Machavariani fired three 10s to stay alive.

The Georgian then took the fifth set 28-27 to force a shoot-off, where Rahul managed an 8 against his rival's perfect 10.

Olympian Dhiraj Bommadevara, the most experienced of the trio, had the toughest draw as he ran into former Olympic champion Mete Gazoz in the opening round.

The top-ranked Indian lost 2-6 after drawing the first set 29-all.

The second set was closely fought, but Gazoz's two 10s gave him a 29-28 edge.

The Turkish archer extended his lead to 5-2 with another 29-28 in the third.

Dhiraj drew the fourth 29-all, but it was not enough to stop Gazoz from sealing the win.

Neeraj Chauhan, meanwhile, was outclassed 0-6 by Uzbekistan's Bobrajabov Bekzod, losing in straight sets 27-29, 27-28, 26-29. PTI TAP AM TAP AM AM