Watch: Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, and Deepika Kumari lead Indian women's team to archery quarter-finals | Paris Olympics 2024
A season-best score from Ankita Bhakat and decent support from Bhajan Kaur and Deepika Kumari in the archery ranking round helped the Indian women's team secure a quarter-final berth in the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday, July 25.
Ankita led the way with a score of 666 (out of 720), finishing 11th in the individual standings. Bhajan and veteran Deepika finished their 12 ends with scores of 659 and 658, respectively. India placed fourth in the team event and will now advance to the 1/32 elimination phase.
Watch the women's archery team secure the quarter-final berth at the Paris Olympics:
In the opening end, Bhakat had an impressive start of 54 points and even broke into the Top 10 in the penultimate end, but she was unable to capitalize on her lead and finished 11th with eight points off her last arrow.
Meanwhile, Bhajan and Deepika both had underwhelming starts but eventually put in much-improved performances in the later half to finish 22nd and 23rd, respectively.
The Indian team will next face the winner of the 1/8 elimination match between France and the Netherlands. Having finished fourth, if India progresses through to the semifinals, they will, in all likelihood, face the Republic of Korea.
The Koreans were yet again utterly dominant, beating their own Olympic Record of 2032 points and finishing with 2046 in the ranking round.
Schedule for the Indian women archers in Paris Olympics 2024
Women's Team Archery Quarterfinal: India vs France/Netherlands, 5.45 pm IST on July 28
Women's Individual Archery 1/32 Elimination round: Ankita Bhakat vs Wioleta Myszor, 5.14 pm IST on July 30
Women's Individual Archery 1/32 Elimination round: Bhajan Kaur vs Syifa Nurafifah Kamal, 5.27 pm IST on July 30
Women's Individual Archery 1/32 Elimination round: Deepika Kumari vs Reena Parnat, 3.56 pm IST on July 31