Deepika Kumari falters, Atanu Das returns after year; compound star Abhishek Verma out of top-4

The multiple World Cup gold medallist, who finished seventh in the first phase of the trials in Kolkata last month, ended outside top eight in the women's recurve event to miss the cut in the final leg of the three-day trials, which concluded at the SAI Sonipat here.On a day of upsets, reigning junior and former cadet world champion Komalika Bari and former national champion Ridhi Phor also finished outside the top-eight, which will be split into two teams for the six big events lined up this year -- Asian Games, four stages of the World Cup and the World Championships.Bhajan Kaur, Aditi Jaiswal, Ankita Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur completed the top four who will compete in all the premier tournaments this year.

Joy for Atanu Das, returns after a yearThere was joy for Deepika's husband Atanu Das as the India number one was back in the team after more than one year.Last year, Das failed to make the cut in the same trials, which delayed his comeback. Das last played for India in the Tokyo Olympics.The two-time Olympian finished second behind Army man Dhiraj B, while old warhorse Tarundeep Rai and youngster NeerajChauhan completed the top-four.Tushar Shelke, Mrinal Chauhan, veteran World Cup medallist Jayanta Talukdar and Indrajit Swami finished between five and eight.Compound ace Verma out of first-choice teamThere was an upset of sorts in the compound section with multiple World Cup gold medallist Abhishek Verma finishing outside top-four.The 33-year-old Verma, who is world number nine, finished fifth, which means he would not make it to the first choice team.In case of "non-performance", the archers who finished between No. 5 and 8 will get a chance, Indian archery high performance director Sanjeeva Singh told PTI.Deepika,