From 4-0 up to heartbreak: Indian archer Pooja misses Paralympics semis berth, losing to Wu of China

Indian archer Pooja Jatyan slipped from a two-set lead to go down to heavyweight Wu Chunyan of China 4-6 in the women's recurve open quarterfinals of the Paris Paralympics here on Tuesday.

A winner of four Paralympics medals, including a team gold in 2016 Rio Games, the 34-year-old Chinese archer was nowhere in the picture after a disastrous opening set where she shot twice in the 7-point red ring to aggregate 23 points.

Pooja, a former World Para Championship silver medallist, had a superb start as she dropped just two points to take the first set with a five-point margin.

The Gurugram-born 27-year-old archer raced to a 4-0 lead, winning a tight second set 25-24 by nailing a perfect 10 in her final arrow.

Needing just one set to make her maiden semifinals, Pooja faltered with a 7 in her final arrow of the third set as the Chinese reduced the margin to 2-4 taking the third set 28-27.

Pooja slowly started to crumble under pressure as she managed just 24 points in the fourth set.

Wu levelled it 4-4 before delivering a knockout punch when she won the decider 27-24, with a perfect 10 in her final arrow.

Earlier, Pooja showed promise, beating Yagmur Sengul of Turkey in straight sets to storm into the quarterfinals.

Pooja took the first set by hitting three 9s in a row. Continuing her dominance, she totalled 26 points while her opponent struggled with a 22 to concede a 2-0 lead to the Indian.

The Indian faced some resistance from Sengul in the third set when she hit two 9s and an 8, but Pooja remained calm to edge the Turkish archer by one point and seal the win.

In 1997, when Pooja was just two months old, a high fever and a wrong injection due to medical negligence changed her life forever, resulting in polio in her left leg.

Despite these setbacks, Pooja's resilience shone through as she embraced archery in her childhood.

Pooja won a silver medal in the women's team event at the Asian Para Championship 2023.

In 2024, she continued her success by securing a silver medal at the 8th Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament and claiming gold medals in both the Women's Team and Mixed Team events at the Para Archery European Cup 2nd Leg.

In the recurve open category, archers shoot from a standing position at a distance of 70m at a 122cm target made up of 10 concentric circles scoring from 10 points down to 1 point from the centre outwards.