Ankita Bhakat and Dheeraj Bommadevara missed out on winning the bronze medal in the mixed team event of archery at the Paris Olympics 2024. In the bronze medal match, Ankita-Dheeraj were defeated by Brady Ellison and Casey Kafhold of USA 2-6. The American pair had won the first two sets. After this, the Indian pair made a comeback and won the third set, but then in the fourth set, the USA once again won. The Indian pair had earlier lost to Korea 2-6 in the semi-finals.
However, despite missing out on a medal, Ankita-Dheeraj created history. For the first time, Indian players reached the semi-finals in an archery event at the Olympics. India failed to qualify for archery only in the Sydney Olympics 2000. Apart from this, it has participated in all the Olympic Games, but could not improve its performance. Archery was included in the Olympics in 1988 and since then Indian archers have been participating in almost every Olympic Games, but have failed to reach the podium so far. This means that India has not won a single medal in the archery events of the Olympics so far.
Result update: # Archery🏹 Mixed Team Bronze Medal Match👇
A near miss for our archers.
Ankita Bhakt and @bommadevarady Sadly missed out on a podium finish #ParisOlympics2024,
The Indian pair came close at 2-6 in the 4️⃣ set match.
keep your head up… pic.twitter.com/DQqw4GOrhF
– SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 2, 2024
Deepika and Bhajan Kaur have reached the pre-quarterfinals
Now India has high hopes from Deepika Kumari and Bhajan Kaur in Paris Olympics. Deepika and Bhajan have reached the pre-quarterfinals of women’s individual archery event. Deepika will face Germany’s Michelle Kroppen in the pre-quarterfinals on August 3. On the same day, Bhajan Kaur will face Indonesia’s Dayananda Choirunisa. However, the bad news for India is that if Deepika and Bhajan win their respective matches, they will face each other in the quarterfinals. That is, only one archer can reach the semifinals.
Related news
- MP: Girls’ clothes were removed on the charge of bringing mobile phones in the classroom, angry family members reached the police station
- Government is giving loan up to 10 lakhs for business, apply before 16th August, these documents will be required
- telangana govt school electricity bill, telangana cm revanth reddy, telangana govt school, Telangana government school electricity, Telangana government school free electricity
- ‘Some schools in Jharkhand are having a holiday on Friday’, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey raised the issue in Parliament
- Sagar triple murder case solved, sister-in-law and nieces killed for taunting, brother-in-law turned out to be the murderer
This is the first time since the London Olympics 2012 that the Indian team has 6 players. The Indian men’s and women’s teams had qualified for the Olympics on the basis of rankings, due to which this time Indian archers were participating in 5 events. This was the fourth Olympics for veteran Tarundeep Rai and Deepika Kumari. In the Tokyo Olympics, all the Indian male archers could not make it to the top 30, due to which the Indian team was seeded 9th. India’s only female archer Deepika had secured the 9th position. India then had to face defeat from top seed Korea in their respective quarter-final matches.
Who are Dheeraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat
Ankita-Dheeraj may not have won a medal, but they definitely won the hearts of the fans with their brilliant performance. 26-year-old Ankita Bhakat, a resident of West Bengal, has fulfilled her dream of winning a medal in the Olympics on the basis of her hard work. Her father was a milk trader. Ankita never gave up and struggled. At the age of just 10, Ankita started trying her hand at archery. Ankita participated in a local archery competition at the Circus Ground in Kolkata.
Ankita started practicing with borrowed equipment at a local club and learned the tricks of archery. In 2014, she got a place in Tata Archery Academy. In the initial phase, Ankita learned the art of archery under the guidance of coaches Dharmendra Tiwari, Purnima Mahato and Ram Avadhesh. Purnima Mahato is also with the team as a coach in Paris.
In 2015, Ankita represented India in the World Archery Youth Championship, at that time she was just 18 years old. In the same year, Ankita won silver and bronze in the Seoul International Youth Archery Fest. In 2017, she also played the finals of the Asia Cup and the Indian Senior National Championship. After this, she never looked back.
Dheeraj Bommadevara, 22, from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, won a medal at the Paris Olympics with his exceptional archery skills. Dheeraj’s journey in archery began in 2006 at the Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada under the guidance of his father Bommadevara Shravan Kumar, who was a technical official of the Archery Association of India.
Dheeraj made his international debut in 2017 and got his first major success in 2021 when he won a gold medal at the World Archery Youth Championship. In 2021, Dheeraj joined the Indian Army after completing a four-year training program at the Army Sports Institute in Pune.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)