Paris (France): India women's archery team featuring Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bakat and Bhajan Kaur on July 25, Thursday secured a direct entry in the quarterfinals through the ranking round of the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024 archery team event.
The top four in the team standings directly advance to the quarterfinals, while those ending between fifth to 12th play the Round of 16 fixtures.
The trio finished the ranking event at the fourth spot, only behind South Korea (2046), China (1996), and Mexico (1986) respectively. India scored 1983 points in the event. The South Korean team's 2046 points is the new Olympic record, breaking their country's previous record of 2032 points set in the last Summer Games held in Japan.
Ankita, who was in eighth place before the last end, gave season best to finish 11th. Bhajan and Deepika finished 22nd and 23rd respectively. Team India scored 1983 points with 21 bullseyes and 83 ten's (10's) on the day.
🚨 Archery - Women’s Team finishes 4th in the Ranking Round. They advance to the Quarterfinals and will compete against the winner of France and Netherlands. 👏🏽👏🏽#JeetKiAur | #Cheer4Bharat
— Team India (@WeAreTeamIndia) July 25, 2024
Ankita scored 666 points in the individual events while Bhajan and Deepika amassed 659 and 658 points respectively. For the first time, Deepika will miss out on the mixed team berth as Ankita topped among the Indians. Ankita will partner with the top Indian finisher in the men's qualification in the mixed team finals.
The final rounds of the archery competitions at the Paris Olympics will be held from July 28 to August 4. India will face the winner of the Round of 16 stage contest between France and the Netherlands. If they clear the quarters, India could be headed for a semifinal showdown with heavyweights Korea.
The Korean women's team was invincible at the Olympics, winning a ninth straight medal in Tokyo three years ago.
The men's individuals and team archery rankings round will be played later in the day (5:45 PM IST). India's men's archery team includes the archers – Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai, and Pravin Jadhav.
