Asian Archery Championships: Indian recurve archers fail to clinch team Olympic quota

The Indian recurve archers failed to secure team quota for next year’s Paris Olympics after failing to progress into the finals of the Asian Championships on Wednesday. The fifth seeded Indian team of Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur and Tisha Punia expectedly could not live up to the challenge from South Korea and lost in the semifinals. The Indians had a first set lead but only to crumble under pressure and go down 2-6 (55-54, 54-56, 55-57, 52-56). They however settled for a bronze medal, beating Chinese Taipei 5-1 (55-53, 53-53, 52-51). Second seeded Indian men’s recurve team of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav were eliminated in the quarterfinals. The trio slipped away from a 2-0 lead to go down to Kazakhstan in the shoot-off 4-5 (57-52, 55-56, 53-55, 57-54) (27-28) to make a quarterfinal exit. This was the third time the archers failed to secure quota places after World Championships and Asian Games earlier this year. For the first time, this meet offered team quotas to continental team champions in Asia. Individual quotas will be awarded in a standalone event to be held on November 10-11. The next qualifying event will be the third World Cup (June next year) before the Olympics. Thereafter, any places awarded on world rankings will use the list issued on June 24, 2024. Compound archers excell The compound archers, however, brought some cheer winning one bronze, while also assuring themselves four more medals by advancing into their respective finals. On a day world champion Aditi Swami suffered a heartbreak after being ousted by Bonna Akter in the pre-quarters, veteran Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Parneet Kaur set up a gold medal clash to assure India a top-two spot in the compound women’s individual section. Parneet defeated Viktoriya Lyan of Kazakhstan 147-145, while Jyothi sailed past Huang I-Jou of Chinese Taipei 148-145 in their respective semifinals. India have also advanced to the final of the compound mixed team event. The team of Aditi and Priyansh defeated Kazakhstan’s Adel Zhexenbinova and Andrey Tyutyun 157-155 in the semifinal to set up a gold medal clash against Thailand. The Indian compound men’s team of Abhishek Verma, Prathamesh Fuge and Priyansh bagged a bronze after a shoot-off win over Chinese Taipei. Both the teams were 235-235 after four ends, and India sealed the bronze by winning the shoot-off 29-28. In the compound men’s individual section, only Verma remained in the medal hunt and will fight for a bronze, taking on Joo Jaehoon of South Korea. Verma ousted teammate Fuge 148-147 in the quarterfinals, only to go down to Kazakhstan’s Anddrey Tyutyun 146-148. Tyutyun knocked out another Indian Priyansh in a nail-biting quarterfinal. Both the archers were locked at 148-148 and in the shoot-off they shot 10 each, but Tyutyun was adjudged winner with his arrow landing closer to the centre. Tyutyun had earlier accounted for the fourth Indian member Ojas Deotale in the pre-quarterfinals with a 149-147 win. The top-seeded compound women’s team of Aditi, Jyothi and Parneet eliminated hosts Thailand 228-217 in a one-sided semifinal. India will take on third seeds Chinese Taipei in the gold medal clash.