Paris Olympics 2024: Draws finalized, India's women archers gear up for elimination rounds
Following the archery women's individual ranking round at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the draws for the elimination rounds have now been finalized. There are three Indian archers in the discipline.
Ankita Bhakat emerged as the top-placed Indian archer after the ranking round, securing 11th place with a season-best score of 666. In her 1/32 Elimination Round match, scheduled for July 30, at 5.14pm IST, she will face Poland’s Wioleta Myszor, who finished 54th in the ranking round.
18-year-old Bhajan Kaur too will be seen in action on July 30. Her match has been scheduled for 17:27 IST. Kaur finished a commendable 22nd in the ranking round with a score of 659. She will face Nurafifah Syifa Kamal of Indonesia, who finished 43rd in the ranking round.
Former World No. 1, Deepika Kumari was expected to lead the charge for the Indian archers. However, she endured a challenging ranking round and finished last among the Indian archers in 23rd place with a score of 658. Deepika will face Reena Parnat of Estonia, who finished 42nd in the ranking round, in her 1/32 Elimination Round game on July 31 at 3.56pm IST.
In the 1/16 Elimination Round, an interesting and somewhat unfortunate scenario looms for the Indian team. If Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur win their respective first-round matches, they will face off in the 1/16 Elimination Round later on the same day.
Indian women’s archery team finishes 4th in rankings; get direct entry into the quarterfinals at Paris Olympics 2024
Despite the ups and downs in individual performances, the combined efforts of the Indian archers resulted in a solid team ranking. The Indian women's archery team finished 4th in the ranking round with 1983 points, securing a direct entry to the quarterfinals.
The India team will face the winner of the 1/8 Elimination match between France and the Netherlands for a place in the semifinals. France finished just behind India in fifth place in the ranking round while the Netherlands finished last in 12th place.
Should India progress to the semifinals, they are likely to face the Republic of Korea, who finished atop the team rankings with an Olympic record score of 2046 points.