Paris Olympics 2024: India directly qualify for quarter-finals in women's team archery event

Deepika Kumari in action (Pic: AFP)

The Indian women's archery team, comprising Bhajan Kaur, Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat, directly qualified for the quarter-finals of the event at the Paris Olympics 2024 by securing a fourth-place finish with 1983 points.

In the Women's Archery Ranking Round, South Korea ended at the top of the list with 2046 points, followed by China (1996) and Mexico (1986). For India, Ankita Bhakat finished in the 11th spot with 666 points, a season-best, and grabbed the 11th seed in the women's archery competition. South Korea's Lim Sihyeon (694), a world record, and Nam Suhyeon (688), her personal best, finished as the first and second-ranked women archers in the women's ranking at the Paris Olympics 2024.

During the ranking round, each shooter was supposed to hit 72 arrows in two halves of 36 each. A set consists of six arrows shot at once, and there are six sets per half.

The top four seeds earned a direct qualification to the quarterfinals. At the conclusion of the first set, Indian archers Ankita Bhakat scored 54 points and had 22nd place (X, 10, 9, 9, 8, 8), Deepika Kumari had 51 points and 51st place (10, 9, 9, 9, 8, 6) and Bhajan Kaur had 51 points (9, 9, 9, 9, 8, 7) and 52nd place.

The leading player was Sihyeon Lim of South Korea, with 59 points.

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In the subsequent two sets, Ankita and Bhajan started to improve their standings, rising to seventh and 41st place, respectively. On the other hand, Deepika rose to the 36th spot in the second set with 54 points but slipped to the 39th spot in the third set with 54 points.

Halfway through the first set, South Korea's Sihyeon Lim (176) and Suhyeon Nam (172) occupied the top two spots. Ankita (7th with 170 points), Deepika (39th with 161 points) and Bhajan (41st with 161 points) were also climbing up.

India as a team had climbed up to fourth seeding out of 12 by the time the third set ended.

In the fourth set, Ankita faced a brief drop to 8th spot, while Deepika and Bhajan climbed to 31st and 38th place, respectively. In the fifth set, Ankita fell to the 10th spot, while Bhajan and Deepika rose to the 23rd spot and 33rd spots, respectively.

India concluded the first half of the ranking round in 6th place as a team, with Ankita (12th place with 335 points), Deepika (37th place with 327 points) and Bhajan (23rd place with 330 points) having to put their all in the second half for a direct spot in the quarter-finals.

South Korea occupied both the top spot as a team and individually, led by Sihyeon. Turkey's Elif Berra Gokkir had the second spot, while Suhyeon of South Korea held the third spot in the individual category.

India started the second half really well, with Ankita falling to 15th place with 389 points, but Deepika (25th place with 384 points) and Bhajan (28th place with 383 points) rising up. India rose to fourth seeding at the start of the second half.

India maintained its fourth seeding at the end of the eighth set, with Ankita rising to the 11th spot with 445 points, Deepika rising to the 24th spot with 439 points, and Bhajan falling to the 30th spot with 437 points.

India slid down to the fifth spot at the end of the ninth set, with Ankita intact at the 11th spot, Deepika falling to the 30th spot, and Bhajan rising to the 25th spot.

India once again went up to fourth spot at the tenth set end, with Ankita dropping to 12th spot, Bhajan rising to 21st, and Deepika reaching 28th spot too.

In the 11th set, Bhakat accumulated 58 points, while Bhajan and Deepika claimed 56 points each.

In the final set, Deepika shined by hitting four consecutive 10-point marks. She accumulated 57 points and finished in 23rd place with an aggregate total of 658.

Bhajan finished the final set with 53 points. She secured 22nd place with an aggregate of 659.

Ankita walked away with 11th place with an aggregate of 666 points and accumulated 54 points in the final set.