Bommadevara impresses with fourth place in ranking round, while Bhakat emerges as best-placed Indian woman at 11th in her first-ever Olympics; men’s and women’s archery teams secure quarter-final berths
Indian archer Dhiraj Bommadevara during the individual ranking round in Paris yesterday. Pics/PTI
Led by the in-form Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat, India’s campaign at the Paris Olympics began on a positive note as the country’s archers secured a direct entry into the quarter-finals of both the men’s and women’s team events after finishing third and fourth respectively in the ranking round here on Thursday.
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Debutants Dhiraj and Ankita’s spectacular show in the qualifications helped India finish in the Top-4, giving them favourable draws to clinch an elusive Olympic medal in archery.
The Top-4 in the team standings directly advance to the quarter-finals, while those ending between 5th to 12th play the Round of 16 fixtures.
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Medal just two wins away
The Indian men’s team is seeded third, which means they will not feature in the same pool as the invincible Koreans in the next round. Now, both the Indian teams need just two wins to secure Olympic medals. Dhiraj, the World Cup bronze-medallist who defeated Tokyo Olympics silver winner Mauro Nespoli in Antalya, lived up to the expectations by finishing fourth in the individual round.
Archer Ankita Bhakat competes in Paris yesterday
The duo of Ankita and Dhiraj, who were the star of the day with an excellent performance in the second half of his competition, will be seeded fifth in the mixed team round of 16 event.
India’s mixed team finished fifth with 1,347 points. Dhiraj got 681, while Ankita scored 666 earlier in the day.
The mixed team score is determined by summing the best individual score from the women’s and men’s individual event.
The Indian men’s team made it to the quarter-finals by finishing third in the ranking round with 2,013 points.
Dhiraj shone with a fourth-spot finish in individual section with 681 points. Appearing in his fourth Olympics, Tarundeep Rai ended 14th with 674 points while Pravin Jadhav finished 39th with 658 points.
Deepika Kumari 23rd
Earlier in the day, Games debutant Ankita left behind seasoned campaigners like Deepika Kumari to emerge as the best-placed Indian archer at 11th in the women’s individual qualifications as the country secured a quarter-final spot by finishing fourth.
The 26-year-old Ankita was the top-ranked Indian woman, followed by Bhajan Kaur (22nd with 559 points) and Deepika (23rd with 658 points). India grabbed the fourth spot by scoring 1,983 points.
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