Paris 2024 Olympic Games: File photo by Ankita Bhakat© X (formerly Twitter)
Ankita Bhakat started India’s campaign at the Paris 2024 Olympics on a positive note as the 26-year-old helped her team qualify directly for the quarter-finals of the women’s archery event. Bhakat was the best performer among the three Indian archers in the event as she finished 11th with 666 points. The score was much better than that of Bhajan Kaur (22nd with 659 points) and former world number 1 Deepika Kumari (23rd with 658 points). India finished fourth with 1983 points behind South Korea (2046), China (1996) and Mexico (1986) to secure their direct berth into the quarter-finals of the competition at the 2024 Olympics. Ankita made headlines on Day 1 as she produced her best performance of the season.
In preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Ankita won the bronze medal in the women's recurve event at the 2023 Asian Games. She was part of the team that also included Simranjeet Kaur and Bhajan Kaur.
After her triumph, Ankita put in another good show at the 2024 Archery World Championship Qualifiers in Antalya, Turkey, reaching the quarterfinals and securing a spot at the 2024 Olympics.
She eventually lost in the quarterfinals to Mobina Fallah of Iran.
The 26-year-old started her journey in archery at the age of 10 when she trained at the Calcutta Archery Club. Bhakat then joined the Archery Academy in Jamshedpur where she honed her skills.
Meanwhile, India will face the winner of the match between France and the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
If they reach the quarter-finals, India could face heavyweight Korea in the semi-finals.
The Korean women's team was unbeatable at the Olympic Games, winning their ninth consecutive medal in Tokyo.
In the individual event, Korea's Lim Sihyeon improved the world record with 694 points to finish first in the rankings, while her compatriot Suhyeon Nam scored 688 points to finish second.
(With PTI inputs)
Topics mentioned in this article