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.

Paris Olympics 2024: File photo of Ankita Bhakat© X (formerly Twitter)

Ankita Bhakat starred for India in the Paris Olympics archery women’s individual ranking round.© X (Twitter)

Olympics 2024 Archery LIVE© SAI

Olympics 2024 Archery Live Streaming and Live Telecast: India’s Paris Olympics 2024 journey begins a day before the opening ceremony, as archers take centre stage in the individual ranking rounds, which decide their seeding for the main event. Once again, India’s archery team will be spearheaded by former World no. 1 Deepika Kumari, who will be participating in her fourth Olympics. Alongside her, 26-year-old Ankita Bhakat and 18-year-old Bhajan Kaur will be making their Olympic debuts. Dheeraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Ramesh Jadhav will be the three men participating in the Olympics.

Format:

Each archer gets to shoot 72 arrows over two halves, which determines their seeding for the final event. The combined score of the archers decides the seeding for the men’s team and women’s team. The mixed team event seeding is decided by the score of the best men’s and women’s individual scores.

The top four seeded teams will be directly sent to the quarter-final, while the next eight will play in the Round of 16. In the mixed event, only the top 16 seeds will qualify.

When does the Olympics 2024 archery individual ranking round take place?

The Olympics 2024 archery individual ranking round takes place on Thursday, July 25 (IST).

What time does the Olympics 2024 archery women’s individual ranking round start?

The Olympics 2024 archery women’s individual ranking round starts at 1:00 PM IST.

What time does the Olympics 2024 archery men’s individual ranking round start?

The Olympics 2024 archery men’s individual ranking round is expected to start at 5:45 PM IST.

Where is the Olympics 2024 archery individual ranking rounds being held?

The Olympics 2024 archery individual ranking rounds will be held at Les Invalides, Paris.

Which TV channels will telecast the Olympics 2024 archery individual ranking rounds?

The Olympics 2024 archery individual ranking rounds will be telecast on the Sports 18 network.

Where will the Olympics 2024 archery individual ranking rounds be live streamed?

The Olympics 2024 archery individual ranking rounds will be live streamed for free on the JioCinema app.

(All details are as per information provided by the broadcaster)

A different year and another Olympics, but for Indian archers, the target will be the same — fetching their first ever medal at the Games. More or less regular at the Olympics since debuting back in 1988, the archers will kick off the nation’s Paris campaign here on Wednesday with the qualification rounds at the Les Invalides gardens here. For the first time after London 2012, India will have a full six-member squad after both the men’s and women’s teams qualified on the basis of rankings. This means they will compete in all the five events.

Veterans Tarundeep Rai and Deepika Kumari, appearing in their fourth Olympics, will lead their young teammates, hoping to securing at least a top-10 finish in the qualification round to ensure a favourable draw.

Each archer will shoot 72 arrows and the scores in the qualification round of 128 athletes from 53 countries will decide the seeds for the main knockout competition beginning with the women’s team finals on Sunday.

The qualifying round will be crucial for the Indians, who have often slipped in the seedings and ended up losing to heavyweights Korea, tipped to top the qualifications.

At the Tokyo Olympics, all the male archers finished outside the top-30 and got the ninth seeding as a team. Deepika, the sole woman archer there, also got a ninth place in rankings. Both ended up losing to top-seed Koreans in their respective quarters.

On form front, India will have high hopes from the men’s team, which won a historic World Cup this year in Shanghai, upsetting Korea for the first time in a final.

They will have the experience in Rai and Tokyo Olympian Pravin Jadhav, while debutant Dhiraj Bommadevara will be on a high after beating Tokyo Olympics silver-medallist Mauro Nespoli of Italy en route a bronze at the World Cup Stage-3 in Antalya just a month back.

Individually, debutant Dhiraj is seen as a bright prospect as he has tasted success by winning the Asian Games team silver last year, albeit with different teammates.

Known to be “ice cool” in tough situations, Dhiraj would look to overcome the bitter memories of Hangzhou Asian Games where he botched up his release twice to exit in the individual quarters.

Deepika will fight against herself in a redemption act.

All eyes would be on her especially after her stunning comeback to win a World Cup Stage-1 silver in Shanghai in April this year, less than 16 months after becoming a mother.

Last time in Tokyo, An San of Korea was her nemesis as she went on to become the gold-medallist.

There is no An this time, but they have another Korean in Lim Si-hyeon who has defeated Deepika twice this year including in the Shanghai World Cup final.

“If she gets going, Deepika churns out perfect 10s at ease. But at the same time, she suffers from inconsistency and makes silly mistakes at crunch times. If she overcomes her mental blockade, there is no stopping her,” India’s high performance director Sanjeeva Singh said.

Dhiraj and Deepika, if they manage to top their ranking rounds, would be an exciting prospect for the recurve mixed team.

Dhiraj’s composure and Deepika’s skills would complement each other well at the highest level.

The women’s team, on the other hand, will be low on experience barring Deepika.

Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur, who have been Indian regulars in this Olympic cycle and won a World Cup Stage-4 bronze here in 2023, are slated for their respective Games debut.

They have together won the Asian Games bronze last year and will look to draw inspiration from that.

Twenty-six-year-old Ankita, who hails from Bengal but represents Tata Academy, is relatively more experienced having won a clutch of World Cup team medals including a gold and silver, both in Paris in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Controversial build-up

The archers Olympic build-up was marred by their foreign coach Baek Woong Ki’s return to India after not getting accreditation to enter the Games.

The South Korean, who was contracted by the Archery Association of India for the Olympics at an approximate annual contract of Rs one crore, had accompanied the team to their 10-day preparatory camp in Jaux.

But he had to return after AAI failed to procure an accreditation for him as the sports body was engaged in a blame game with national federation (IOA).

While there would be no Baek, India will have men’s and women’s team coaches in Sonam Singh Bhutia (Army) and Purnima Mahato (Tata) whose archers have made the side.

In absence of Baek, it remains to be seen how the Indians will cope with crunch moments especially while taking on arch-nemesis Korea in the knockouts.

Quarterfinal jinx

Indian archers have never been able to go past the quarterfinal hurdle.

The script has been the same all these years, barring in Sydney 2000 where India could not qualify for the Games.

In terms of cumulative performance, the best ever show was at the last Olympics in Tokyo where the India men’s team, mixed team and Deepika individually, all fell by the wayside in the quarters.

India were awarded the team quotas after topping the men’s and women’s rankings among non-qualified nations in the Olympic cycle.

The men’s team finals will be on Monday, while the individual eliminations will get underway on Tuesday.

The mixed team finals are slated for next Friday, followed by women and individual finals over the same weekend.

India’s ace archer Deepika Kumari is confident of the team’s chances in the Paris Olympics. She said clear communication in tough situations will benefit them in the quadrennial event. Indian archers will compete in all five medal events in Paris: men’s and women’s teams, individual, and mixed categories. The women’s team boasts exceptional talent including the 2022 Asian Games bronze medallists Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur, apart from Deepika. “The strength of any team lies in its communication and combination. It’s essential to support each other in various situations. We talk a lot and discuss how to handle different scenarios. Clear communication, especially in tough situations, is a huge strength for us. We are confident about our chances at the Olympics,” Deepika said on JioCinema’s ‘The Dreamers’.

Bhakat, who is fulfilling a lifelong dream of competing in the Olympics, expressed her confidence in the team’s progress.

“Since I started archery, I have always dreamt of playing in the Olympics. Now, that dream is coming true. In past World Cups, we rarely played podium matches, but this time it’s different. We learned from our early setbacks and improved significantly. Our performance has been consistently better in each competition, and I believe we will perform well at the Olympics,” Bhakat stated.

She emphasised the importance of self-belief, adding, “I know what level of performance I’m capable of. When I give my 100%, the medal will surely follow.”

Bhajan echoed Bhakat’s sentiments, stressing on the importance of continuous improvement and giving their best effort. “My performance at the second World Cup was much better than the first one, so I started feeling victorious about my progress since the first World Cup,” said Kaur.

“Whenever we go for a tournament, we focus on giving our best, no matter the magnitude of the tournament. Our aim is to leave no stones unturned for the Olympics as well and we are confident that we will return from Paris with a medal.”

Bhakat also pointed out the invaluable experience of having a veteran like Deepika Kumari in the team. “It’s a great advantage that Deepika is going to the Olympics for the fourth time. She understands the challenges we might face in Paris,” she explained.

Bhajan added, “Deepika’s experience, along with Ankita’s, is our biggest strength. They help us understand and rectify any issues in our game. Our ability to communicate and support each other is crucial.”

Deepika, one of India’s most decorated archers, has been a beacon of excellence in the sport. The former World No.1 archer has won medals in World Cups, Asian Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the World Championships, and the Asian Games.

Deepika Kumari is torn between two worlds. One where the doting mother longs to be with her 19-month-old daughter Vedika, and another where the ace Indian archer craves for an elusive Olympic medal. But the resilience she showed in fusing those two different spaces in her life has taken Deepika to the Paris Games, the fourth showpiece in her career. Deepika’s determination to achieve glory in the ultimate sporting event in the world was evident when she stayed away from her daughter for two months to finetune her preparation.

“It’s difficult to explain the pain of being away from my daughter. But it’s also about achieving what we have worked for over so many years,” Deepika told PTI in an exclusive interaction.

Finally, Atanu Das, her husband and himself an international archer, took Vedika to Army Sports Institute in Pune just before Deepika departed to Paris.

It was an achingly emotional moment for Deepika.

“I miss her a lot, but that’s how it is. Thankfully, she has been really supportive and has adapted well with my in-laws and Atanu,” added Deepika.

But Deepika’s turmoil had started immediately after giving birth to her daughter in December 2022.

She developed muscle stiffness and lifting the 19-kg bow was next to impossible.

“We had planned for the delivery in such a way that we would be able to compete in Paris. But it was like starting from zero after the delivery.

“Forget about shooting or lifting the bow, she was not able to do even simple daily chores,” Atanu recalled.

“Gradually, she started jogging and put in a lot of hard work at the gym to get going again.” Deepika even thought that her career has come to a close.

“Career lagta hai khatam ho gaya, kya main aur shooting nahin kar paoongi? (It seems my career is over…Won’t I be able to shoot again?” she would ask Das.

But then came the flicker of hope.

Deepika dominated the National Games in Goa last year, returning with two gold and one silver.

It led her to the big decision of training under the legendary Korean coach Kim Hyung-Tak, the first full time coach under whom the archery heavyweights made their debut at Los Angeles in 1984.

“It was not just about the skill aspect but his guidance also plays a part in bringing clarity to shooting. It really set me off,” said Deepika, who won a silver at the Shanghai World Cup, her first podium finish in two years.

Subsequently, the 30-year-old excelled in the three-month long selection trials, even though her husband-cum-mentor Atanu failed to make the cut.

Lim factor

Despite her phenomenal feats in other world meets, Deepika is yet to bag that coveted medal with five rings on it.

She came close to it in Tokyo but lost to eventual gold winner An San in the quarterfinals.

But this time the Indian will have a 21-year-old South Korean Lim Si-hyeon to tame in Paris.

Lim has defeated Deepika twice this year – at Shanghai and then at the Yecheon World Cup.

Deepika is not worried. “I cannot change the past. I’m fully prepared and happy with the way I’m shooting. We will see what happens on the match day if at all we have a match-up,” she added.

Happy Paris memories, but no pressure

Paris has been a happy-hunting ground for Deepika where she won a hattrick of gold medals in the 2021 World Cup – individual, team and mixed team along with Atanu.

She had also clinched a World Cup Final silver in 2013 and a World Cup silver last year in the French capital.

But she wanted to treat the Olympics as any other top-level competition.

“I don’t understand why there is so much hype surrounding the Olympics in our country. Everyone looks up to archery once the Olympics nears and it creates unnecessary pressure.

“We have to take it like any other competition. The pressure (on the Indians) is more mental,” she said.

Deepika wanted to remain under the radar.

“I don’t want any attention. We have done well consistently to be able to make it here.

We just have to get a good rank in the qualification to get a favourable draw.”

Deepika-Dhiraj combination

The individual rankings determine the mixed team and on current form, Deepika and Dhiraj Bommadevara could be shooting together.

Dhiraj has been in phenomenal form winning 10 international medals in the last 12 months including a team gold beating Korea.

He also won an individual bronze at Antalya World Cup stunning Tokyo silver medallist Mauro Nespoli.

“He is young and uber cool and an individual medal prospect. He doesn’t falter in big moments,” said India’s high-performance director Sanjeeva Singh.

So, will Dhiraj take some pressure off Deepika? “If they top the qualifiers, they will be India’s best recurve mixed team combination,” he said.

Deepika remembers the controversy in Tokyo when she had to unwillingly partner Pravin Jadhav in the mixed team event as the latter had qualified ahead of Atanu.

The national federation could have changed the combination but they went by the rule and the team exited in the last eight.

“I don’t want to talk about what happened. Dhiraj has been shooting well and we hope for the best,” Deepika added.

Will she miss the presence of Atanu in Paris? “He has a greater responsibility — to take care of Vedika,” she smiled clutching an empty bag, a gift from her husband.

“I’ve told her she must win the medal and bring it back in this bag,” Das said.

Perhaps, she can cram in it an Olympic medal and some baby clothes and toys.

Ankita Bhakat outplayed Gabrielle Monica Bidaure of Philippines to enter the quarterfinals of the Final Olympic Qualifier here on Sunday, and the effort also helped her seal an individual quota in women’s archery for next month’s Paris Games. Ninth seed Ankita cruised to a 6-0 (26-23, 28-22, 28-23) win over her 40th seeded rival in the pre-quarterfinals. India thus have secured individual quotas in both men’s and women’s sections. Dhiraj Bommadevara had secured the men’s individual quota from the Asian qualifying leg earlier.

In the earlier rounds, Ankita had defeated Shelley Hilton 6-4 (24-26, 25-25, 28-20, 25-25, 27-25) and Mikaella Moshe 7-3 (28-25, 25-27, 27-27, 28-25, 26-25), both from Israel, to make it to the last-16.

Ankita will face top-seed Mobina Fallah of Iran in the quarters.

Third seed Bhajan, who got a bye into the round of 32, overcame Urantungalag Bishindee of Mongolia 6-2 (29-27, 28-26, 26-29, 27-24) is also in the fray for a podium finish and will take on Urska Cavic of Slovenia in her pre-quarters.

The individual quotas are allotted to the top-eight nations. Each country gets one individual quota.

Deepika falters

Earlier, premier Indian archer Deepika Kumai, who qualified as second seed, suffered an embarrassing opening round defeat to little known Yaylagul Ramazanova of Azerbaijan.

The former world No. 1 won the opening two sets to lead 4-0, but her shooting went horribly wrong in the next two where she scored 23 and 24 points respectively, landing five of her six arrows in the outer rings.

She shot thrice in the eight-point red ring, once in the seven-point red ring and while another hit the outer six-point ring as Yaylagul gleefully brought it level at 4-4.

The Azerbaijan archer then won the fifth set with a solid display for a splendid win 6-4 (26-28, 25-27, 23-26, 24-25, 27-29).

“There was no equipment malfunction but she had poor release after failing to anchor her bow properly. It could be pressure or something else,” a team official told PTI.

Team quotas not out of grasp

Indian men’s and women’s teams have failed to seal the quotas from the Final Olympic Qualifier. The men’s team had qualified as top seed but lost to Mexico in the quarterfinals. The women’s team, who got fifth seed in rankings round, exited in the pre-quarters.

But they still can earn Paris Games berths if they maintain their World Rankings till the cutoff date of June 24.

The top two nations from among the countries who have not got team quotas will make the cut for the Paris Olympics on June 24 after the third stage of the World Cup beginning here on Tuesday.

The men’s team is currently No. 2 with 243 points behind South Korea who have already qualified.

Chinese Taipei and Italy, who are behind India in the rankings, have already qualified. India’s nearest competitors are China (204 points) and Japan (190).

The women’s team is currently No. 8 behind South Korea, China, Germany, France, Mexico, USA and Chinese Taipei — all these seven nations have already got team quotas.

It means the Indian women’s team with 185 points are at the top of the rankings race with Indonesia (179.5), Colombia (152) and Italy (150) vying for the second spot.