Indian archers aim to end 36-year wait for Olympic medal

Bolstered by their bestever show in the Paris Olympics 2024 ranking rounds Indian archers will look to end a 36yearlong wait for an Olympic medal with yet another good show in the medal rounds that will get underway with the womens finals on SundayIndian archery fraternity can hope for multiple medals from the historic Les Invalides arena following Dhiraj Bommadevara seeded fourth and Ankita Bhakats 11th exploits in the qualifiersFor the first time after 12 years India have a full sixmember contingent as they vie for medals in all the five categories mixed team mens and womens team and individual eventsHaving seeded straight to the quarters the mens and womens teams need two wins to land a historic first Olympic medal in archery since their debut in the 1988 Seoul GamesIndia who have never crossed the quarterfinal hurdles in the Olympics mostly falling to archery powerhouse South Korea will avoid their nemesis first upWhile the mens team can avoid them till the gold medal clash the womens may head into Korea in the semifinalsIndia will take on the winners of France and the Netherlands in womens team quarterfinals on SundayShooting in front of home support France who were ranked fifth in the qualifiers will be the overwhelming favourites to be Indias quarterfinal opponentsAll 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 crowdAlso ReadHattrick of medals will be tough for SindhuThe Indian womens team seemed to be ahead of the French rivals having shot 1983 with an average of 918 compared to the hosts 1972 at 913Frances Lisa Barbelin Amelie Cordeau and Caroline Lopez are also familiar rivals for the Indians having defeated them 32 in a friendly match at their preparatory camp in Jaux 80kms north of ParisIt was in Paris at the World Cup Stage 3 in 2021 the Indian womens team had defeated France in the semifinal en route to winning a goldAnkita and Deepika were part of the gold medalwinning Indian team with Bhajan replacing Komalika Bari here and they may take inspiration from that match three years agoIndias most experienced woman archer Deepika the former world No 1 had her worst ranking round from four Olympics finishing lowly 23rdShe struggled to get her 10s managing just 28 perfect scores from 72 arrows and landed her arrows in the five and six rings on two occasionsDeepika will once again play the role of a finisher and it will all boil down to how she brings her best in the crunch momentShe has won a World Cup silver this year in Shanghai making an incredible comeback less than 18 months after becoming motherIf the womens trio manage to get going as a team then there would be no stopping them for a medal at the Paris Olympics 2024Games debutant Dhirajs redhot form and the combined fiveOlympics appearance of Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav who was in Tokyo too makes the Indian mens team the most fancied to win a medal The mens finals is scheduled on MondayIn Shanghai World Cup they had achieved a historical feat of upsetting the Koreans for the first time to win a goldRanked 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 oppositionBut 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 prequartersThe qualification round average arrow score for the mens team is an impressive 932 only Korea 949 and France 938 scored higher than themAs far as Turkey are concerned they have not done well as a team and India should sail past them without much fussFrance who will take on the winners of Italy and Kazakhstan the two lowlyranked teams are likely to be Indias semifinal opposition if they manage to overcome TurkeyIndia 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 12thThey are in the same pool with China and Korea who might be their potential quarterfinal and semifinal opponents respectively should they progressMixed team finals are slated on August 2In peak form Dhiraj will also hope to make it count in the individual rounds where Deepika could also throw some surprisesDhiraj botched up his release twice in the quarters to return emptyhanded from the Asian Games individual event and he would look to overcome the disappointmentThe individual elimination round will be held between Tuesday and Thursday followed by the womens finals on August 3 and mens final on August 4With agency inputs