Archery World Cup: Indian women's recurve team finish second in qualification after Olympics disappointment

Paris: The Indian women’s recurve team bounced back strongly after the disappointment of missing out on an Olympic quota to finish second behind Mexico in the qualification round of the Archery World Cup Stage 3, on Tuesday. The troika of world number three Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari, who had made a shock second-round exit in the final Olympic Qualifier on Sunday, accumulated 1986 points to qualify for the pre-quarter-finals. Incidentally, Mexico and India had an identical top-two finish in Sunday’s qualification round before the Indian trio were eliminated by Colombia in straight sets. The second-seeded Indian women’s team will face the winners of the tie between Spain and Sweden in the last-16. Deepika was back in her elements after Sunday’s debacle as she led by two points against her Mexican opponent Alejandra Valencia at the halfway mark before missing the pole position by six points. Deepika shot 674 to occupy the second spot behind Alejandra to advance directly into the last-32 as second seed. Left-handed Ankita was the second-best Indian in the qualification round, shooting 664 to take the fifth position and join Deepika in last-32. 19-year-old Komalika finished 19th with 648 points.