Talukdar

Calcutta: The Indian men’s recurve team of Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia had a bad day at work as they finished third overall in qualifying at the archery World Cup Stage IV which began in Shanghai Wednesday.

India's first round opponent in the team event will be Ukraine.

Talukdar’s 10th, in the International Archery Federation (Fita) qualification round, was the individual best as Banerjee finished 18th and Champia 24th.

Talukdar, who is all set to qualify for the four-man World Cup finals at Copenhagen in Denmark on September 26, had qualified to the meet proper by finishing 12th at Santo Domingo, second at Porec and sixth at Antalya in the previous three meets.

Third place in the team event means India would be in the bottom half of the draw and will avoid meeting top seeds and favourite Korea before the final.

The Indian men’s team had won gold at the Santo Domingo and Porec World Cup meets and silver at Antalya in Turkey.

Oh Jin Hyek of Korea topped the individual qualifiers while compatriot Lee Chang Hwan was second. Chen Wenyuan of China was third.

The four Indian women recurve archers — Rimil Buriuly, Dola Banerjee, Pratima Boro and Reena Kumari — will be seen in action on Thursday.

The first three form the Indian team.