Ace archer Deepika Kumari creates 3 national records, misses out on another due to a mistake

The No. 1 ranked female recurve archer Deepika Kumari created yet another national record when she shot a staggering score of 346 out of 360 in the women’s 50m round at the 34th Senior National Archery Championship in Jamshedpur.

In doing so, Deepika shattered the previous record in the event held by Olympian Bombayla Devi who had scored 333 points while representing the Railways in the 2012 championships.

Deepika had earlier set up two national records in the in the 70 metres and 60 metres events of the FITA (Fédération Internationale de Tir à l’Arc) round on the opening day.

The World Cup silver medallist displayed some fine form during the championships and could have added the overall championship record to her name but for an elementary mistake she committed.

After shooting six arrows in the 30m event, Deepika removed the arrows from the target before the scorers could officially record the points, which was in violation of FITA rules. The Jharkhand archer lost all the points she scored with those set of six arrows and as a result lost on a medal too in the event.

Asked whether she was unaware of the FITA rule, the former World Cup winner said that she was aware of the rules but had removed the arrows by mistake.