 "India's Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara celebrate during their mixed team archery quarter-final meeting with Spain at the Paris Olympics. AP")
Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara nearly won India their first ever Olympic medal in archery on Friday after guiding the nation to the mixed team semi-finals with a 5-3 victory over Spain.
Paris Olympics: News, schedule, medals tally and moreThe Indian pair, however, would suffer back-to-back losses against Korea and USA in the semi-finals and the bronze medal play-off respectively to finish fourth in the event.
Bhakat and Bommadevara’s hopes of fighting for gold, however, would come to an end with a 2-6 defeat at the hands of Korea’s Lim Si-hyeon and Kim Woojin in the semi-finals at Les Invalides, which took place shortly after their quarter-final victory over Spain.
Less than an hour later, they were up against USA’s Casey Kaufhold and Brady Ellison, who had suffered a 3-5 loss at the hands of Germany’s Michelle Kroppen and Florian Unruh. And for the second time in as many matches, India would suffer a 2-6 defeat to remain medal-less in archery at the Olympics.
LIVE | India at Paris Olympics, Day 7
The Indians had taken the mighty Koreans by surprise by taking the opening set 38-36, with Bommadevara hitting 10s in both of his shots. Si-hyeon and Woojin, however, bounced back in style right after, winning Set 2 38-35 before winning the next two (38-37, 39-38) by the barest of margins.
It was the American pair, however, that drew first blood in the bronze-medal match by taking the first set 38-37. USA were on the verge of sealing the contest without dropping a set after going 4-0 up with a 37-35 scoreline in Set 2.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIndia kept their hopes alive by clawing back in Set 3, winning it by a fairly big margin of 38-34. Kaufhold and Ellison, however, prevented the match from going into a decider by winning Set 4 37-35.
The Korean pair of Si-hyeon and Woojin would later win gold, defeating Germany’s Kroppen and Unruh 6-0 in the final.
Earlier in the evening, Bhakat and Bommadevara defeated Spain’s Elia Canales and Pablo Acha Gonzalez 5-3 (38-37, 38-38, 36-37, 37-36) in their quarter-final meeting on Friday to reach the semi-finals for the first time.
India won the first Set by a solitary point, and the two teams would share a point in the next one after finishing on identical scores of 38.
The Spanish duo of Canales and Gonzalez would then go level at 3-3 by taking the third set 37-36.
Bommadevara, however, would star in the fourth set with a couple of crucial 10s, helping India seal a 5-3 victory by taking Set 4 37-36.