National archery: Dhiraj, Kumkum begin well

Dhiraj scored 680, comprising 24 Xs, the most by a mile, and 14 10s. Kumkum recorded 677, consisting of 10 Xs and 26 10s, to improve upon her previous career best total of 671. The fickle weather switched from being sunny and warm to cloudy and windy before a bout of drizzle tested the archers thoroughly.

The action was called off owing to bad light even before the day’s schedule could be completed. Dhiraj, who reached here at 10 p.m. on Wednesday night, recovered quickly to score 343 in the first segment before a change in schedule forced an unusually longer break of more than an hour.

He returned to shoot 337 in the second segment and took the top place by a slim margin of one point. Former World youth champion Parth Salunkhe rode on his training and foreign exposure to register his season’s best aggregate of 679.

Olympian and Asian Games women’s team gold medallist Ankita Bhakat was second with 662, while the seasoned Deepika Kumari placed 10th with 646. Important results: Recurve: Qualification round: Men: 1. B. Dhiraj (SSCB) 680, 2.

Parth Salunkhe (Mah) 6779, 3. Arjun Khara (Odi) 674 (15 Xs), 4. Devraj Mohapatra (Meg) 674 (12 Xs), 5. Sukhchain Singh (SSCB) 672, 8. Atanu Das (PSPB) 669, 9. Neeraj Chauhan (AIP) 667, 15. Yashdeep Bhoge (RSPB) 664. Women: 1.

Kumkum Mohod (Mah) 677, 2. Ankita Bhakat (Jha) 662, 3. Sangeeta (SSCB) 660, 4. Sharvari Shende (Mah) 657, 5. Gatha Khadake (Mah) 657, 8. Simranjeet Kaur (Pun) 650, 10. Deepika Kumari (PSPB) 646, 14. Komalika Bari (642, 16.

Ridhi Phor (Har) 640.4.