Bombayla Devi Laishram takes aim in the women's archery team eliminations against Denmark at the Lord’s Cricket Ground yesterday

It was a bright and sunny morning in London. Once one got away from the cover of the buildings and entered the Lord’s arena the speed of the wind suddenly caused a slight flutter. The ground has been spruced up Olympic-style with pink plastered all over and the five Olympic rings painted on the famous media box, but the temporary arena still can’t hide the ghosts that reside at the Mecca of cricket. There are all around.

For an Indian they start with the first Test the country played here under C.K. Nayudu in 1932 which India lost by 158 runs. Many have followed since; from the infamous instance in 1990 when Sunil Gavaskar was stopped at Grace Gates by the unbending stewards who failed to recognize him to Sachin Tendulkar never getting a hundred here. However, with those ghosts come unforgettable memories.

Kapil Dev lifting the Prudential Cup in 83, Dilip Vengsarkar’s three hundreds, Sourav Ganguly twirling his T-shirt in utter defiance after India’s mindboggling chase in 2002, all were special as the last. Yesterday, with a bow and arrow instead of a bat and a ball the trio of Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi and Chekrovolu Swuro were all set to create their own memories at this hallowed ground, but they ended up doing what would haunt them for years to come.
 
They were knocked out by Denmark in the pre-quarters of the team event by a close margin of 210- 211, They would now have to come up with some amazing performances in the individual events to have a shot at a medal.

On this ground scoring a six is usually followed by large applause but in archery it’s usually something that sounds the death knell as Chekrovolu painfully learned. Her two sixes, one in the second round and one in the third, clearly cost India the match as the archers showed poor skills in negotiating the wind factor. India’s rising star Deepika also found the conditions tough as her score-line was littered with 8s and 9s but just one lone ten.
 
It was in fact the experienced Bombayla who kept the team in the hunt till the end, getting most of the 10s — including 3 in a row.“The conditions were tough today, it was windy and we hit some bad shots. My sixes cost the team and it was very disappointing but hopefully we can do better in the individual events,” Chekrovolu said. That is going to be a highly difficult task that the archers would come back with a medal unless they master the unpredictable conditions in London.

They showed that they had fight in the final round by scoring two tens through Bombayala and Swuro. India started the final end hitting 9- 10-10, and recovered four points to be a solitary point adrift (184-185) after the Danes hit 8-9-8. They followed it up with a 9-8-9, but Denmark kept the lead and in the last shot Louise Laursen hit the 9 that was needed to win.

The honour’s board at the Lord’s has the name of all the men who have scored a hundred or taken a five wicket haul here. If Deepika, Bombayla and Chekrovolu are able to get a medal in the individual event they won’t get a name on that wall but they will get their everlasting Lord’s memory. Else the ghost of their defeat will roam here forever.