World No.1 Deepika Kumari, India's medal hope in archery at the Tokyo Olympics, brushed aside Ksenia Perova of the Russian Olympic Committee to book a place in the quarter-finals of the quadrennial showpiece event.
In a stirring Round of 16 clash at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field on Friday, Deepika shot 10 in the shoot-off to make it to the quarters. She registered a 6-5 win over the Russian.
Deepika started off well by clinching the first set 28-25. She, however, failed to wrap up the second set, misfiring a 7 in her final arrow to lose 26-27.
The Indian archer gained the lead again by taking the third set 28-27 before Perova bounced back and levelled the fourth. The fifth and final set went in the Russian's favour, resulting in a shoot-off between the two archers.
Earlier, struggling in the windy conditions overall, Deepika had defeated Bhutan's Karma and American Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez to make the last-16.
Deepika had a facile 6-0 win over world number 193 Karma of Bhutan in a low-scoring opening round match. In her 1/16 eliminations round against Mucino-Fernandez, Deepika faced a stiff challenge with the match progressing to the fifth and deciding set.
In the deciding set, Deepika held her nerves to win the match 6-4 and set up the round-of-16 against Perova.
