Following his team’s narrow defeat to the USA in the bronze medal match for the recurve archery mixed team at the ongoing Paris Olympics, Indian archer Dhiraj Bommadevara said it was heartbreaking to miss out on a medal, but the team will take the performance positively and continue improving. India’s hunt for their first Olympic medal in archery continued after Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara suffered a heartbreaking loss in the bronze medal match in the recurve mixed team event on Friday. Despite making history by becoming the first Indian pair to reach the semi-finals at the Olympics in a mixed archery event, Ankita and Dhiraj’s arrows missed the mark at the decisive moment, ending their campaign in the Paris Olympics.

Speaking to ANI after the match, Dhiraj said, “It feels good that we have performed better than in past Olympics. But also, we are sad to miss out on a medal this time. We have improved a lot. SAI (Sports Authority of India), TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme), and the federation have supported us a lot. We will keep working hard. Whatever we have learned here, we will try to put those learnings into practice and improve our performances.”

Dhiraj noted that the archers were extremely unlucky at times in their individual and team events.

“We were not able to win despite being nearly perfect. We will go back, become perfectionists, and bounce back. When a player is just one step short of a medal, it feels bad because a player sacrifices a lot in his life for that, he works really hard. But we stay positive. We will take it as a challenge and keep fighting,” concluded the archer.

The Indian duo came close to the bronze but fell short. They did not get off to an ideal start after Ankita struck a seven in her opening shot. The American duo capitalized on the opportunity and wrapped up the first set by one point. The US archers led the bronze medal tie by 2-0 (38-37).

In the second set, Ankita once again struck a seven, but Dhiraj made amends by sending his arrow to the 10-point region. The medal match became open after Casey hit the red zone to pick up eight. The Indian duo followed it up by hitting the nine-point mark each. However, a ten from Brandy sealed the second set in favor of the US (37-35).

In a must-win set, Ankita set the tone with a ten, and Dhiraj followed it up with a nine. Brandy replied strongly with a ten, but the pressure got the better of Casey after she sent her arrow into the red zone for a seven. India took advantage of the opening and closed the gap to 2-4 (38-34).

In the fourth set, which decided India’s fate, Ankita began the proceedings with an eight, and Dhiraj followed it up with a nine. The American archers made the most of the opportunity and walked away with the bronze medal with a 6-2 win.

Before playing for India’s fourth medal, Dhiraj and Ankita fell short in the semi-finals against South Korea’s Kim Woojin and Lim Sihyeon.

File photo of Indian archer Bhajan Kaur.© AFP

Indian women’s archery team endured a forgettable outing as they went down 0-6 to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. Indian trio of Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur and Deepika Kumari lost 51-52, 49-54, 48-53 to the Dutch team in what was a disastrous performance. Ankita and Deepika were the weakest links in the team as they failed to live up to the expectations. In archery, the highest score by a team in a set is awarded two set points, while a draw get one set point each. India had made a direct entry into the quarterfinals after finishing fourth in the qualification.

Boxing triumph

In a thrilling display of skill and determination, two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen powered her way into the women’s 50kg pre-quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics.

Zareen faced Germany’s Maxi Karina Kloetzer in a hard-fought 32-round bout. The 28-year-old Indian boxer emerged victorious with a 5-0 unanimous decision win on Sunday.

Zareen’s journey in this Olympic campaign has been nothing short of impressive. The bout was challenging and messy, yet Zareen’s experience and tactical prowess saw her through to the next round.

Looking ahead, Zareen is set to face top-seeded Asian Games champion and reigning flyweight world champion Wu Yu of China on Thursday.

Meanwhile, in another moment of glory for India, shooter Manu Bhaker secured a bronze medal in the Women’s Air Pistol event, marking a historic achievement at the Paris Olympics 2024. Bhaker’s performance on Sunday was a testament to her skill and perseverance, as she became the first Indian woman to win a medal in shooting at the Olympics. The 22-year-old shooter finished with a score of 221.7, bringing home India’s first medal in the ongoing mega event.

Bhaker’s experience at the Tokyo Olympics where a pistol malfunction thwarted her chances. Her redemption arc at Paris 2024 is inspiring, as she made history by becoming the first Indian woman in 20 years to reach a shooting final in an individual event since Suma Shirur in 2004. Bhaker’s achievement underscores her resilience and dedication to the sport, making her a role model for aspiring shooters in India and beyond.

The Paris Olympics continues to be a platform for showcasing the prowess and potential of Indian athletes. With Zareen advancing to face one of the competition’s top seeds and Bhaker securing a historic bronze, India is witnessing remarkable performances from its sportswomen. These achievements not only bring pride to the nation but also inspire future generations to pursue excellence in sports.

As the games progress, all eyes will be on Zareen’s upcoming bout against Wu Yu and the continued efforts of Indian athletes to bring more accolades to the country.

Bolstered by their best-ever show in the ranking rounds, Indian archers will look to end a 36-year-long wait for an Olympic medal with yet another good show in the medal rounds that will get underway with the women’s finals on Sunday. Indian archery fraternity can hope for multiple medals from the historic Les Invalides arena following Dhiraj Bommadevara (seeded fourth) and Ankita Bhakat’s (11th) exploits in the qualifiers. For the first time after 12 years, India have a full six-member contingent as they vie for medals in all the five categories — mixed team, men’s and women’s team, and individual events.

Having seeded straight to the quarters, the men’s and women’s teams need two wins to land a historic first Olympic medal in archery since their debut in the 1988 Seoul Games.

India, who have never crossed the quarterfinal hurdles in the Olympics, mostly falling to archery powerhouse South Korea, will avoid their ‘nemesis’ first up.

While the men’s team can avoid them till the gold medal clash, the women’s may head into Korea in the semifinals.

India will take on the winners of France and the Netherlands in women’s team quarterfinals on Sunday.

Shooting in front of home support, France, who were ranked fifth in the qualifiers, will be the overwhelming favourites to be India’s quarterfinal opponents.

All eyes would be on the trio of Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur and Deepika Kumari and how they soak in the pressure in front of a partisan crowd.

The Indian women’s team seemed to be ahead of the French rivals, having shot 1983 with an average of 9.18 compared to the hosts’ 1972 (at 9.13).

France’s Lisa Barbelin, Amelie Cordeau and Caroline Lopez are also familiar rivals for the Indians, having defeated them 3-2 in a friendly match at their preparatory camp in Jaux, 80kms north of Paris.

It was in Paris at the World Cup Stage 3 in 2021, the Indian women’s team had defeated France in the semifinal en route to winning a gold.

Ankita and Deepika were part of the gold medal-winning Indian team with Bhajan replacing Komalika Bari here and they may take inspiration from that match three years ago.

India’s most experienced woman archer Deepika, the former world No 1, had her worst ranking round from four Olympics, finishing lowly 23rd.

She struggled to get her 10s, managing just 28 perfect scores from 72 arrows and landed her arrows in the five and six rings on two occasions.

Deepika will once again play the role of a finisher and it will all boil down to how she brings her best in the crunch moment.

She has won a World Cup silver this year in Shanghai, making an incredible comeback less than 18 months after becoming mother.

If the women’s trio manage to get going as a team then there would be no stopping them for a medal.

MEN’S TEAM MOST FANCIED

Games debutant Dhiraj’s red-hot form and the combined five-Olympics appearance of Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav, who was in Tokyo too, makes the Indian men’s team the most fancied to win a medal. The men’s finals is scheduled on Monday.

In Shanghai World Cup, they had achieved a historical feat of upsetting the Koreans for the first time to win a gold.

Ranked third in the qualification round, India may face Turkey in the quarterfinals. The two teams have not met in the recent past and the challenge would be to conquer an unfamiliar opposition.

But for that to happen, sixth seeds Turkey, who boasts of reigning Olympic champion Mete Gazoz, will have to first need to get past 11th ranked Colombia in the pre-quarters.

The qualification round average arrow score for the men’s team is an impressive 9.32 — only Korea (9.49) and France (9.38) scored higher than them.

As far as Turkey are concerned they have not done well as a team and India should sail past them without much fuss.

France, who will take on the winners of Italy and Kazakhstan, the two lowly-ranked teams, are likely to be India’s semifinal opposition if they manage to overcome Turkey.

India are seeded fifth as a mixed team where Ankita will partner Dhiraj and they will face an easy opening round against Indonesia who are seeded a lowly 12th.

They are in the same pool with China and Korea, who might be their potential quarterfinal and semifinal opponents respectively, should they progress.

Mixed team finals are slated on August 2.

Dhiraj, Deepika darkhorses

In peak form, Dhiraj will also hope to make it count in the individual rounds, where Deepika could also throw some surprises.

Dhiraj botched up his release twice in the quarters to return empty-handed from the Asian Games individual event and he would look to overcome the disappointment.

The individual elimination round will be held between Tuesday and Thursday, followed by the women’s finals on August 3 and men’s final on August 4.