Who is Ankita Bhakat? All you need to know about the Indian archer competing at Paris 2024 Olympics
Ankita Bhakat is a talented archer who is all set to represent India in the Paris Olympics 2024 to be held from July 26 to August 11.
She hogged the headlines back in 2017 after winning the gold medal in the youth archery World Championships that took place in Rosario, Argentina. She partnered Jemson Singh Ningthoujam and finished on top in the recurve junior mixed team event.
The 26-year-old Ankita booked her berth in Paris during the World Archery Olympic Qualifier earlier this year.
Ankita Bhakat finished in the top eight of the tournament after beating Gabrielle Monica Bidaure of the Philippines 6-0 (26-23, 28-22, 28-23). Ankita is set to make her debut in the Olympics and has the task of ending India’s wait to win a medal in archery on the big stage.
Ankita is a part of India’s three-member women’s team along with the experienced Deepika Kumari and 18-year-old Bhajan Kaur. The men’s team has Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai, and Pravin Jadhav.
Ankita Bhakat’s career in brief
Ankita Bhakat took up archery when she was only 10 years old and from there on, she kept getting better and better. In 2014, she joined the Tata Archery Academy in Jamshedpur where she honed her skills under her coaches Ram Awdesh, Purnima Mahato, and Dharmendra Tiwari.
Ankita passed the selection trials conducted by the Archer Association of India (AAI) and took part in the World Archery Youth Championships in 2015 in Yankton, South Dakota. In 2022, Ankita bagged the gold medal during the Khelo India Women’s National Ranking Archery tournament at the JRD Tata Sports Complex.
Ankita also won the bronze medal in the women’s team recurve event at the Asian Games in 2023 in Hangzhou. She was a part of the team that also included Simranjeet Kaur and Bhajan Kaur. India lost to South Korea in the semi-final after which they defeated Vietnam in the bronze-medal match.