India secures individual Paris Olympics 2024 quota in women’s recurve archery from final Olympic Qualifier; Deepika Kumari faces early exit

Indian female recurve archer Bhajan Kaur secured the gold medal in the final Olympic Qualifier in Antalya, Turkiye on Sunday, June 16, to attain a Paris Olympics 2024 quota in the women’s individual recurve archery event.

Furthermore, Ankita Bhakat progressed to the quarterfinal before bowing out of the campaign. Earlier, Deepika Kumari crashed out of the competition in the third round.

Bhajan Kaur defeated top seed Mobina Fallah of the Republic of Iran by 6-2 in the final to grab the gold medal. As a third seed, Bhajan initiated her campaign with byes in the first two rounds.

Later, she defeated Urantungalag Bishindee from Mongolia by 6-2 in the third round and Urska Cavic from Slovenia by 7-3 in the fourth round to advance to the quarterfinal.

She continued her domination against Wioleta Myszor from Poland by 6-0 in the quarters. In the semifinal, she bagged a 6-2 victory against tenth seed Alexandra Mirca from Moldova to storm into the grand finale.

Meanwhile, Ankita Bhakat also made it to the quarterfinals. However, she suffered a loss to Iran’s Mobina Fallah by 4-6 in the last eight. She moved to the quarters after defeating Mikaela Moshe of Israel 7-3 in the third round before blanking Gabrielle Monica Bidaure of the Philippines 6-0 in the fourth round.

Earlier, she also defeated Shelly Hilton of Israel 6-4 in the second round after being given an opening-round bye.

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India will also field mixed team at the Paris Olympics 2024

India confirmed a Paris quota after both recurve archers Ankita and Bhajan made it to the quarter-finals. However, as National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at the Paris Olympics 2024.

On the other hand, the world No. 1 Deepika Kumari suffered a loss in the third round. As a second seed, she suffered a defeat by 4-6 to 31st seed Yaylagul Ramazanova of Azerbaijan after receiving byes in the first two rounds.

As Dhiraj Bommadevara already secured an individual men’s recurve archery quota from the Asian Continental Qualifier Tournament in Bangkok in 2023, India will also represent in the mixed team event at the Paris Olympics 2024.