PARIS: There's hope around Indian archers in Paris and Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara ensured that they are on the right track. The debutants powered the Indian women's and men's teams to the quarterfinals on the opening day of the archery competition.
The 26-year-old Ankita, who had won a bronze medal in mixed team event at the Hangzhou Asiad, was in the zone as she tallied a superb 666 at the Esplanade des Invalides, the garden venue located in the heart of the city.
The Kolkata girl, who came up the ranks impressing at the junior level, shot 30 arrows in the 10s and added another 9 in the X circle to get the 11th spot and set India off to a great start. Her compatriots Bhajan Kaur (22nd spot) and Deepika Kumari (23) also tried their best as Team India ended fourth with a score of 1983.
South Korea led the charts with a new Olympic record score of 2046 points. Lim Si-Hyeon powered the Koreans setting a new world record score of 694. The women's team was under pressure, and they have begun in style after failing to make the last two editions. The last time India was part of the women's team event was in London in 2012, when they crashed out in the round of 16.
On Thursday, Bhajan tallied 659 and Deepika 658 as India stormed into the quarterfinals in what was one of best performances by the women's team in the Olympics. India have got a bye in the pre-quarters and will take on the winner of the last-16 match between France and Netherlands.
Army Sports Institute trainee Bommadevara came up with a high of 681 points (39-10s, 14-x) to finish fourth in the individual rankings. Seasoned campaigner Tarundeep Rai ended 14th with 674 (31, 9) while Pravin Ramesh Jadhav ended 39th with a score of 658 (25, 8). Together they put India in the third spot in the team rankings with a total of 2013 points behind Korea (2049) and France (2025).
Ankita and Dhiraj also booked their slots in the mixed team event. In the mixed, India ended the ranking round in sixth spot.
