Indian women’s recurve team of Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, and Deepika Kumari had an excellent outing at the ranking round of the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday.
They attained the best-ever Indian rank at the Olympics in a team event and finished in the fourth position. This meant that would also earn a bye in the first round of the women’s team elimination.
They scored a combined total of 1983 in the ranking round to confirm their spot in the quarterfinals where they will take on the winner of the match between Netherlands and the host France.
If the Indian team manages to surpass their quarterfinal opponent, then their potential semifinal will be up against the top-seeded South Korean team, who broke the Olympic record in the Ranking round, scoring a total of 2046.
#Archery 🎯| In a competitive women’s archery ranking round which saw Korea’s Lim Si-hyeon🇰🇷 shatter the World Record, the Indian🇮🇳 archers had their say led by Ankita Bhakat. The left hander hit her season best score of 6️⃣6️⃣6️⃣ which helped her finish 1️⃣1️⃣th in the seeding. 🙌👌… pic.twitter.com/yVxx0t6nYG
— The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) July 25, 2024
Ankita Bhakat leads individual charts
Indian women’s team managed a good position in the ranking round but it was not a very good outing for them in the individual ranking round as none Indian archers made it to the top 10 of the ranking round.
Ankita Bhakat was the best-placed Indian archer as she finished in the 11th position with a season-best score of 686. Bhajan Kaur (659) and Deepika Kumari (658) finished on 22nd and 23rd position respectively.
The young Korean archer Lim showed excellent archery to top the ranking round and attain the first seed after bettering the five-year-old world record of fellow Korean, Kang Chaeyoung (694).
Potential Elimination Round Matchups
Ankita Bhakat will face Wioleta Myszor of Poland in the first round on July 30 whereas Bhajan Kaur is set to take on Syifa Nirafifah Kamal of Indonesia.
If both the Indians claimed victories in the first round, then, they will face each other in the second round of the Individual elimination.
The most experienced archer on the team, Deepika Kumari, will face Reena Parnat of Estonia in her first-round matchup. Her potential rival in the round of 16 will be the experienced German archer Michelle Kroppen.