KOLKATA: Unheralded Bhajan Kaur earned India an Olympic quota place in the women's recurve archery by winning gold in the final Olympic Qualifier tournament in Antalya, Turkey, on Sunday. Her teammate Ankita Bhakat too was eligible for the quota place when the Kolkata-born archer made the quarterfinals, but the single berth on offer in the event finally went to Kaur as she fared better than Bhakat.
India, who missed out on team quota places in both men's and women's categories earlier in the competition, will thus make it to the mixed team event too in Paris as Dhiraj Bommadevara had already won a men's quota place. However, all eyes will be on the world rankings position after the World Cup Stage III event in Antalya, which will deter mine whether the Indian archers will manage to win team quota places.
Deepika Kumari, however, crashed out, going down to Azerbaijan's Yaylagul Ramazanova 4-6 in the third round after leading 4-0.
Ankita too earns place
Ankita Bhakat outplayed Gabrielle Monica Bidaure of Philippines 6-0 (26-23, 28-22, 28-23) to enter the quarterfinals on Sunday and grab an individual quota. India thus have secured individual quotas in both men's and women's sections. Dhiraj Bommadevara had secured the men's individual quota.
