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 quarterfinals of both the men’s and women’s team events after finishing third and fourth respectively in the ranking round in Paris on Thursday. Debutants Dhiraj and Ankita’s spectacular show in the qualifications helped India finish in the top four, giving them favourable draws to clinch an elusive Olympic medal in archery.
The top four in the team standings directly advance to the quarterfinals, while those ending between 5th to 12th play the Round of 16 fixtures.
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 for securing Olympics 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.
The duo of Ankita and Dhiraj, who was 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 at the fifth position with 1347 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 2013 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.
Korea’s Woojin Kim and Je Deok Kim bagged the top two positions with scores of 688 and 682 respectively. Germany’s Florian Unruh was third with 681.
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 quarterfinal 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 1983 points. South Korea topped the standings with 2046 points. China finished runners-up while Mexico grabbed the third spot.
India will face the winner of the contest between France and Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
If they clear the quarters, India could be headed for a semifinal showdown with heavyweights Korea.
The Korean women’s team has been invincible in the Olympics, winning a ninth straight medal in Tokyo three years ago.
In the individual section, Korea’s Lim Sihyeon smashed a world record score of 694 to top the standings, while her compatriot Suhyeon Nam scored 688 points to finish second.
China’s Yang Xiaolei was third with 673.
Ankita, who hails from Bengal and represents Tata Academy, was the surprise package on the day from the Indian perspective, even as four-time Olympian Deepika faltered to return her worst ever qualification result at the Games.
Halfway through the men’s qualification round, India were placed sixth in the team event, with Rai on 14th, Dhiraj on 24th and Jadhav on 37th place respectively.
After that, India made a remarkable recovery and jumped to the third spot after set seven. The team then improved its position further by moving to second place after set nine.
However, India dropped back to third after set 10 as South Korea maintained their hold of the top spot.
India will face either Turkey or Colombia in the men’s quarterfinals.
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