File image of Deepika Kumari.© AFP

2024 Asian Youth Archery C’ship: Vaishnavi Pawar posing with the silver medal

India suffered a setback in the Paralympic Games archery competitions with the Mixed Team Recurve Open category with two-time medallist Harvinder Singh and Pooja Jatyan losing in the shoot-off in the bronze medal match. Harvinder, who won the gold medal in the Men’s Individual Recurve Open in Paris, and Pooja missed out on a medal as they went down to Ziva Lavrinc and Dejan Fabcic of Slovenia in a tie-break shoot-out after the two pairs had finished 4-4 at the end of the four-set semifinal clash.

Harvinder and Pooja had started with a bang as they won the first set 33-30, as Fabcic started with two sevens. The Indians however lost the next set as they could manage only 29 points with Harvinder scoring a 6 and Pooja 5 on their first arrows. Though Harvinder shot a 10 in his second arrow, they still lost as the Slovenians scored two eights and two 9s.

The Indian pair surged ahead 4-2 by winning the third set with both Harvinder and Pooja landing a 10 each besides two 9s. The Slovenians had a 10 and two 8s but a seven by Dejan Fabcic meant they lost the third set 34-38.

The Indians failed to capitalise on the opportunity as a seven and a five by Pooja meant they could manage only 29 points while their opponents tallied 34 thanks to a 10,9 and 8 besides a 7.

In the shoot-off, Harvinder scored eight and Pooja nine for a score of 17 while Ziva Lavrinc scored a 10 while her partner struck nine to seal bronze, their maiden Paralympic Games medal.

Earlier, Harvinder and Pooja had lost to eventual gold medallist Elkisabetta Mijno and Stefano Travisani of Italy in the semifinal. The Indian duo went down 2-6 in the last-four clash as the Italians shot brilliantly including a perfect 40 in the second set. The Indians had done well to win the third set with three 9s and a 10 while Travisani scored a seven as India won 37-35.

But the Italians won the next set 38-37 to eventually seal a place in the final.

Harvinder and Pooja had moved into the quarterfinals with a close 5-4 win over the Australian duo of Taymon Kenton-Smith and Amanda Jennings in a shoot-off.

On Wednesday night, Harvinder made history by becoming India’s first-ever Olympic or Paralympic champion in archery. The 33-year-old showed a stellar performance en route to a gold medal in the recurve men’s competition at the Paris 2024.

Three years ago in the Tokyo Para Games, he reached the first milestone. His bronze was India’s premiere medal at either the Olympics or Paralympics achieved in archery.

Harvinder Singh scripted history by becoming the first Indian archer to clinch a gold at the Paralympics after world champion shot-putter Sachin Sarjerao Khilari’s record-shattering silver-winning effort as the country’s athletes continued to surpass expectations in its best ever performance at the Games. The 33-year-old Harvinder, who became the first Indian to win an archery medal at the Games with a bronze three years ago in Tokyo, bettered the colour of his medal in a superlative performance of five consecutive wins.

He defeated Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 in a one-sided final to script history for himself and the country. Both legs of the Haryana-archer were impaired while he was still a toddler owing to a dengue treatment adversely affecting him.

Earlier, the 34-year-old Khilari pulled off a 16.32m throw in his second attempt of the F46 category final to better his own Asian record of 16.30m which he set in May while winning gold in the World Para-Athletics Championships in Japan.

Their performance took India’s medal haul to 22 and the nation is currently placed 15th in the overall standings with four gold, eight silver and 10 bronze medals.

Greg Stewart of Canada defended his Tokyo Paralympics gold with a throw of 16.38m, while Luka Bakovic of Croatia took the bronze with 16.27m.

Khilari’s silver was also India’s 11th medal from track-and-field, the Tokyo haul of one gold, five silver and two bronze medals long overhauled.

Late on Tuesday night, Indians won silver and bronze in both men’s high jump T63 and javelin throw F46 after Deepthi Jeevanji’s bronze in the women’s 400m T20 category in India’s best day at the Games.

Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu won silver and bronze respectively in the men’s high jump T63 while Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar took the second and third sports in the javelin throw F46 final.

F46 classification is for athletes with arm deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement in arms, with athletes competing in a standing position.

Hailing from a farming family at Karagani village in Maharashtra’s Sangli district, Khilari met with an accident during his childhood. The injury resulted in gangrene of the skin on his elbow and muscle atrophy. Even after several surgeries, his arm never recovered. He also lost his mother when he was young.

“I had wanted to win the gold medal, but it did not happen. It’s my best distance but I am not satisfied. I feel I could have done better. It was not my day,” Khilari said about his performance on Wednesday.

Simran enters 100m semis

World champion sprinter Simran entered the semifinals of the 100m (T12) event with a season’s best timing of 12.17sec. The runner was visually impaired as an infant after being born prematurely.

After the heat race of Wednesday, she was ranked second overall, finishing behind reigning Paralympic champion and world record holder Omara Durand of Cuba, who also ran a season’s best of 11.87s, in the 16-member field.

The semifinal will take place on Thursday.

Tokyo silver-medallist Bhavina ousted

India’s challenge in the women’s singles table tennis competition after Tokyo edition’s silver-medallist Bhavinaben Patel lost to China’s Ying Zhou 3-1 in the class 4 quarterfinal.

Bhavinaben, who became India’s first-ever medal winner in the sport with her silver in the Tokyo Paralympics, fought hard in the first two games and even won the third but eventually lost to her Chinese rival 12-14, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11.

Earlier, the other women’s singles player in class 3, Sonalben Patel lost to Croatia’s Andela Muzinic Vincetic in the round of 16.

Bhavinaben was diagnosed with polio when she was one-year old.

She competes in class 4 which is meant for wheel-chair bound athletes with functional arms and hands.

No medals in shooting

In Chateauroux, Indian shooters Nihal Singh and Rudransh Khandelwal failed to make the final of mixed 50m pistol (SH1) competition.

Nihal, the 2023 world championship bronze medallist, finished 19th. He had an aggregate score of 522 across six series.

Competing in his maiden Paralympics, 17-year-old Rudransh, who lost his left leg in a freak mishap when he was just eight-years-old, scored 517 to sign off in the 22nd spot in the qualification round.

Sheetal Devi drew massive praise on social media© X (Twitter)

Sheetal Devi hit bullseye© X (Twitter)

World number one Rakesh Kumar’s stunning run in the Paralympics ended without a medal as he went down by one-point to defending champion He Zihao of China in the bronze play-off of the men’s compound open archery event on Sunday. The 39-year-old from Jammu, who is wheelchair-bound after suffering a spinal cord injury in 2009, had a slender one-point lead with six arrows to go. But Rakesh dropped two points in the penultimate end, as the Tokyo Paralympics champion Zihao seized the momentum, hitting six 10s in a row (with three arrows closer to the bulls-eye) to win 117-116.

Harvinder Singh had won India’s solitary medal in Paralympics archery, a bronze at the Tokyo Games.

In the semifinal, Rakesh failed to bring out his A-game against ‘nemesis’ Ai Xinliang of China to lose by two points.

Like in the quarterfinals, Rakesh endured a slow start and trailed by three points with six arrows to go.

He fought hard and dropped just two points in the last two ends, but it was not enough as Xinliang sealed the issue 145-143 to secure his third successive win over the Indian.

Rakesh’s campaign had ended in Tokyo Paralympics quarterfinals, losing to the Chinese by an identical scoreline.

The Indian earlier overcame world No. 2 Ken Swagumilang of Indonesia 144-144 (10-8) to make the quarterfinals.

A sports psychologist and dietician, Rakesh, returned to the shooting line within two hours and displayed remarkable composure to outshoot Canada’s Kyle Tremblay in a riveting shoot-off with the scores reading 144-144 (10*-10).

Rakesh had a slow start, trailing by two points after nine arrows. However, staying cool as a cucumber, he delivered three perfect 10s in the fourth end, turning the tables to take a narrow 116-115 lead.

The drama intensified in the fourth end when Rakesh lost by one point, with the Canadian shooting two 10s, his final arrow landing closer to the center.

The scores were tied at 144-144, the same scoreline Rakesh faced in the quarterfinals as another shoot-off loomed.

Unlike the Indonesian archer in the quarterfinals, the Canadian found the 10-ring, heightening the tension.

Unfazed, Rakesh took a deep breath, stayed composed, and landed his arrow just 3mm closer to the center.

In comparison, Ken’s arrow was 29.55mm from the bullseye, underscoring Rakesh’s precision under pressure.

Earlier, in a battle between the top-two world ranked archers, Rakesh overcame a blip to defeat Ken.

Rakesh held his slender one-point lead and needed a 9-point in his final arrow to seal the issue in five ends.

But he slipped to the the 8-pointer red-ring as both the archers were locked 144-144 in the regulation five ends, consisting 15 arrows.

In the ensuing shootoff, Rakesh held his nerves to shoot a perfect 10, while Ken managed an 8.

Rakesh started on the backfoot with Ken pulling off a perfect first end shooting 30 out of 30, while the Indian dropped a point.

Rakesh bounced back to drill in three 10s, while Ken managed 28 to take a one-point lead.

The third and fourth ends saw both the archers dropping a point each as Rakesh maintained his slender lead before the slip-up in his final arrow of the designated five ends.

The Indian had won gold medal in individual and mixed team events of the Asian Para Championships last year.

He also won the mixed team gold medal at the World Para Championships.

Rakesh suffered a spinal cord injury and after recovering from it in 2009, he realised he would be wheelchair-bound for life, plunging him into depression and even thought of taking the extreme step.

His life took a new turn after meeting his archery coach Kuldeep Vedwan as the duo began their stint together at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in Katra.

In the open class, archers shoot from a sitting position at a distance of 50m at an 80cm five-ring target made up of the 10-6 point bands.

Rakesh Kumar will face Indonesia’s Ken Swagumilang for a place in the quarterfinals.© X (Twitter)

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.

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.