3 things we learned from India's men's archery team's loss at the Olympics

India's men's archery team of Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai were knocked out of the Olympics 2021 after a 6-0 quarter-final loss against South Korea's Kim Woojin, Kim De Jeok and Oh Jinhyek.

The defeat marks the end of India's contention in the team events at this year's Olympics. Earlier, the Indian mixed team of Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav had lost to South Korea's An San and Kim De Joek in the quarter-finals. The Indians will rue their underperformance in the ranking rounds of both the men's and mixed team events, which led to them facing the mighty South Korea in the quarter-finals.

In the men's team match today, the Koreans asserted their dominance from the very beginning and India had to play catch-up. In the end, Korea's accuracy proved too good for the Indians. Here are the key takeaways from the match.

Korea will take on Japan in the first men’s team semifinal at the @Olympics. Now to decide the line-up in the second.#ArcheryatTokyo #archery pic.twitter.com/gTnwE0HpQV

— World Archery (@worldarchery) July 26, 2021

Much to learn from the Olympics for India's archers

India would not be very happy with their outing. From the first day of the ranking rounds, Indian archers struggled with consistency, with Atanu Das failing to qualify for the mixed team event. However, Pravin Jadhav, who was the best ranked archer in the ranking rounds, impressed. He will take the experience from the event forward and look to do well in the archery world cups in the future.

Lack of a clear plan and shooting order

The Indian men's team did not seem to have a clear game plan against South Korea. They changed the order of shooting quite a few times. Jadhav took the first shot in a few rounds, while in the others, it was Atanu. This did not allow them to settle in and shoot consistently. South Korea, on the other hand, worked like a well-oiled machine. Their shooting order remained the same throughout the contest.

No stopping the Korean juggernaut

Once again, to nobody's surprise, South Korea remains the favorite to win gold in the men's team event. The archery heavyweights have already grabbed gold in the mixed and women's team events. They display clinical precision every time they step into the arena and are head and shoulders above every other team.

The Korean men just opened their matches with two sets of 59 points. Somebody’s going to seriously need to step up to the plate to knock them out.#ArcheryatTokyo #archery pic.twitter.com/wMgy0HUNx6

— World Archery (@worldarchery) July 26, 2021

The Indian contingent would now hope to put up a better show in the individual rounds that begin on the 27th. Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai will be in competition for India.