Archer Deepika Kumari has said the federation should not have decided on her partner for the mixed team event in the Tokyo Olympics based on one performance in the men's individual ranking round at the showpiece event.
In the men's individual ranking round, Pravin Jadhav secured the 31st spot while Atanu finished at the 35th spot, and hence Pravin was chosen as Deepika's partner in the mixed team event. However, heading into the Olympics, Deepika had trained alongside Atanu Das.
The pair of Atanu and Deepika had also won gold in the Paris World Cup Stage 3 which was played a month prior to the Tokyo Olympics. Deepika and Pravin ended up losing the quarter-finals in the Tokyo Olympics against An San and Kim Je Deok.
"The matter has closed, we cannot do anything about it. If at that time, a decision was taken strongly then the situation might have been different. Obviously, there are qualities that an athlete has, team coordination is also very important. We prepared together for many years but here it came to an end," Deepika said after Atanu's match on Saturday.
"You judge everything on one performance, but you do not judge what you have done over the past few years. I would say just take a strong decision and don't base your opinion based on one performance," she added, referring to the partnership with her husband Atanu.
Earlier on Saturday, Atanu Das bowed out of men's individual event after losing to Japan's Takaharu Furukawa in the 1/8 Eliminations Round at Yumenoshima Park on Saturday.
Furukawa defeated the 29-year-old 6-4 in the decider to cruise into the quarterfinals of the men's individual event. Deepika had also bowed out of the women's individual event after losing to An San of South Korea.
( With inputs from ANI )
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