The trio of Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, and Deepika Kumari finished 4th in the ranking round event on Thursday, July 25, and secured direct qualification to the quarterfinals of the women’s archery team.
Ankita finished 11th, whereas Bhajan and Deepika finished 22nd and 23rd. The Indian archery team scored 1983 points, hitting 21 bullseyes and 83 perfect 10s today. Korea claimed the top spot with 2046 points, followed by China with 1996 points for the 2nd spot and Mexico with 1986 points for the 3rd spot.
Ankita gave the standout performance for India, as she was the most consistent on that day. Deepika struggled to find her form early and will be looking to improve in the main competition. Meanwhile, Lim Sihyeon dominated, setting a world record with an amazing score of 694 points.
The competition faced a minor delay before things got started. Lim Sihyeon quickly established his pace, hitting four straight bullseyes in the opening round. She continued her strong performance in the second round, adding another three bullseyes to her score and taking a good lead.
For India, Ankita Bhakat started with a bullseye and a 10, followed by 2 9’s and 2 8’s in the first round. In the first round, Deepika started with a 10 but couldn't keep her pace till the end as she could hit just 6 with the last arrow in the first round. Bhajan would have had a decent start to proceedings and found himself in the midfield of the pack.
Ankita made a big jump to the 12th spot in the second round, moved to the 7th, and got a total of 3 bullseyes and 5 10’s during her next 12 arrow shots. Deepika was unable to kickstart until the second round, and it took her until the third round to hit her first bullseye.
Ankita was slipping down the rankings by the end of the first round, while Deepika was able to finish strongly in the first round. Bhajan Kaur was able to score 330 points by the end of the first set of 36 arrows, which took India to 6th rank.
Deepika started with a bullseye in the second round and collected a total of 57 points from the 7th round, while Bhajan and Ankita scored 53 and 54, respectively. Ankita would hit two bullseyes to start the 8th round, but it ended poorly as she got 8 in the end
Deepika got 55, and Bhajan hit 54 at the end of the 8th series of arrows. The collective effort of the trio takes Team India into the top 4 in the team ranking at this point in time. Ankita was able to maintain her 11th spot by reaching 500 points, while Deepika dropped again in the rankings after the 9th series and dropped to the 30th spot. After scoring 55 points, Bhajan made her comeback and secured the 25th spot.
At the end, Ankita finished at 666 points, Bhajan had 659 points, and Deepika had 658.
The final rounds of the archery competitions at the Paris Olympics will be held from August 28 to August 4.
