Bolstered by their best-ever show in the ranking rounds, Indian archers will look to end a 36-year-long wait for an Olympic medal with yet another good show in the medal rounds that will get underway with the women’s finals here on Sunday.
Indian archery fraternity can hope for multiple medals from the historic Les Invalides arena following Dhiraj Bommadevara (seeded fourth) and Ankita Bhakat’s (11th) exploits in the qualifiers.
For the first time after 12 years, India have a full six-member contingent as they vie for medals in all the five categories — mixed team, men’s and women’s team, and individual events.
India’s Full Schedule at Paris Olympics 2024 for July 28, 2024
Having seeded straight to the quarters, the men’s and women’s teams need two wins to land a historic first Olympic medal in archery since their debut in the 1988 Seoul Games.
While the men’s team can avoid them till the gold medal clash, the women’s may head into Korea in the semifinals. India will take on the winners of France and the Netherlands in women’s team quarterfinals on Sunday.
All eyes would be on the trio of Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur and Deepika Kumari and how they soak in the pressure in front of a partisan crowd. The Indian women’s team seemed to be ahead of the French rivals, having shot 1983 with an average of 9.18 compared to the hosts’ 1972 (at 9.13).
France’s Lisa Barbelin, Amelie Cordeau and Caroline Lopez are also familiar rivals for the Indians, having defeated them 3-2 in a friendly match at their preparatory camp in Jaux, 80kms north of Paris.
Deepika will once again play the role of a finisher and it will all boil down to how she brings her best in the crunch moment. She has won a World Cup silver this year in Shanghai, making an incredible comeback less than 18 months after becoming a mother. If the women’s trio managed to get going as a team then there would be no stopping them from a medal.
Men’s Team Most Fancied
Games debutant Dhiraj’s red-hot form and the combined five-Olympics appearance of Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav, who was in Tokyo too, makes the Indian men’s team the most fancied to win a medal. The men’s finals are scheduled on Monday.
Ranked third in the qualification round, India may face Turkey in the quarterfinals. The two teams have not met in the recent past and the challenge would be to conquer an unfamiliar opposition. But for that to happen, sixth seeds Turkey, who boasts of reigning Olympic champion Mete Gazoz, will have to first need to get past 11th ranked Colombia in the pre-quarters.
The qualification round average arrow score for the men’s team is an impressive 9.32 — only Korea (9.49) and France (9.38) scored higher than them.
India are seeded fifth as a mixed team where Ankita will partner Dhiraj and they will face an easy opening round against Indonesia who are seeded a lowly 12th. They are in the same pool with China and Korea, who might be their potential quarterfinal and semifinal opponents respectively, should they progress.
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