Ankita Bhakat, making her Olympic debut, outshone seasoned archers like Deepika Kumari to emerge as India's highest-ranked female archer, securing the 11th spot in the women's individual recurve qualifications at the Paris Olympics. She scored 666 points, leading Bhajan Kaur (22nd with 559 points) and Deepika Kumari (23rd with 658 points).

In the team event, India secured fourth place with a total of 1983 points. South Korea led with 2046 points, followed by China and Mexico.

Also Read

placeholder

Major fallout: Jannik Sinner withdraws from Paris Olympics

The top four teams directly advance to the quarterfinals, while teams ranked 5th to 12th compete in the Round of 16. India will face the winner of the France vs Netherlands match in the quarterfinals, with a potential semi final clash against powerhouse Korea looming.

In the individual competition, Korea's Lim Sihyeon set a world record with 694 points, followed by Suhyeon Nam of Korea with 688 points and China's Yang Xiaolei with 673 points.

Ankita Bhakat, representing Tata Academy and hailing from Bengal, emerged as a surprise performer for India. Meanwhile, Deepika Kumari, a four-time Olympian, struggled and posted her worst-ever Olympic qualification result.

Deepika's performance means she will miss out on the mixed team event berth for the first time, with Ankita securing the top position among Indian women. Ankita will team up with the top-ranked Indian male archer in the mixed team finals.

The men's qualification rounds are scheduled for the afternoon session.