Indian Compound Women’s Team Stuns Defending Champions Colombia, Advances to Archery World Championships Final
India’s compound women’s team made a stunning performance at the ongoing archery World Championships in Berlin. The team, comprised of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Parneet Kaur, and Aditi Swami, delivered a surprising blow to the defending champions Colombia, defeating them with a score of 220-216. This victory has secured their spot in the final of the competition.
However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Indian archers. The hopes in the compound men’s and mixed team events were dashed after close defeats. Abhishek Verma, Ojas Deotale, and Prathamesh Jawkar faced a tough quarterfinal battle against the Netherlands and lost by a narrow margin of 230-235. In the mixed category, Deotale and Jyothi Surekha narrowly missed out on a victory against the USA, losing with a score of 154-153 in the round of last-eight.
Earlier in the tournament, Indian archers were unable to secure team quota places for the Paris Olympics. Both the men’s and women’s recurve teams were eliminated in the quarterfinals. The men’s recurve team, consisting of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Rajat Chauhan, and Tushar Shelke, suffered a defeat against their formidable rivals, Korea, with a score of 1-5. The women’s recurve team, consisting of Bhajan Kaur, Ankita Bhakat, and Simranjeet Kaur, lost to the Netherlands 2-6 after initially taking the lead.
Looking ahead, India’s hopes of making the cut in the ongoing tournament rely on the individual section, which begins on Thursday. Army man Dhiraj Bommadevara is considered to be one of India’s strongest contenders, having secured the second seed in the men’s individual recurve section during the qualification round.
Despite a favorable draw in the recurve mixed team event, India failed to capitalize on their fourth-place finish in the qualification. The duo of Bommadevara and Ankita, who received a bye into the last-16, narrowly lost to lower-ranked Italy with a score of 4-5 in the shoot-off, resulting in their elimination from the event.
To secure a place in the Paris Games, the next opportunity for Indian archers will be in the Continental Games, represented by the Hangzhou Asian Games in October. The winners of the mixed team event and two individuals per gender will have the chance to qualify. Following this, the Asian Championship in November and next year’s Antalya World Cup in June will be the final two qualifying tournaments.
In the worst-case scenario, India may still have a chance to qualify based on their top-8 world ranking, which will be determined by the list updated on June 24, 2024.
Despite some setbacks, Indian archers have shown great promise and resilience throughout the tournament. With their individual events still to come, the archers can potentially secure their spots for the Paris Olympics and continue to make their nation proud.
