Meet Ankita Bhakat, India's rising archery star seeded 11th at Paris Olympics 2024
India's campaign for the Paris Olympics 2024 has kickstarted a day ahead of the opening ceremony, with archers taking the spotlight in the individual ranking rounds.?
Ankita Bhakat has emerged as the top-ranked Indian woman archer, securing 11th place with a score of 666 points, achieved through consistent high-scoring shots (X, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9). Following her, Bhajan Kaur ranked 22nd with 659 points, marked by her steady performance (9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 8). Deepika Kumari, another prominent Indian archer, finished 23rd with 658 points, showcasing her skills with multiple perfect scores (10, 10, 10, 10, 9, 8).
India secured the fourth position with 1983 points, joining South Korea (2046), China (1996), and Mexico (1986) in advancing directly to the quarterfinals. A total of 16 teams participated in the ranking round. Without Ankita's exceptional performance, India would have faced the preliminary rounds. Notably, Ankita achieved her season's best performance during this crucial round.
Ankita will compete against Wioleta Myszor in the Round of 64, while Bhajan is matched against Syifa Nurafifah Kamal from Indonesia, and Deepika will face Estonia¡¯s Reena Pernat.Korea¡¯s Sihyeon Lim topped the standings with a World Record score of 694, followed by her compatriot Suhyeon Nam with 688, and China¡¯s Xiaolei Yang in third place. The main draw starts on July 30, with medal rounds on August 3. In the team event, India will compete against the winner of France and the Netherlands on July 28 and may face the favored Korea in the semifinals if they advance.
Who is Ankita Bhakat?
Ankita Bhakat's archery journey began at the age of 10 in Kolkata, where she participated in a local competition with neither proper equipment nor expertise. Coming from a milkman's family, financial constraints were a significant challenge, but her determination led her to practice with borrowed equipment at a local club. Her dedication paid off when she secured a place at the Tata Archery Academy in 2014, where she trained under coaches Dharmendra Tiwari, Poornima Mahato, and Ram Awadhesh in Jamshedpur. By 2015, at just 18, she represented India at the World Archery Youth Championship in Yankton, USA, marking the beginning of her international career.
Ankita has since achieved numerous accomplishments, including winning silver and bronze at the Seoul International Youth Archery Festa in 2015, reaching the finals of the Asia Cup and Indian Senior National Championship in 2017, and winning her first gold medal at the Khelo India Women's National Ranking Archery Tournament in 2022.?
She is a gold medalist in the mixed team event at the 2017 U-21 World Championship, a bronze medalist in the recurve team event at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, and a three-time Asian Championship team medalist. After finishing in the top eight at the 2024 Final World Archery Olympic Qualifier, Ankita secured her spot on the Indian Olympic team and is debuting at the?Paris Olympics 2024?in the women's individual archery event.
Archery Ranking Round and its importance
The archery ranking round involves each archer shooting 72 arrows, split into two halves, with total scores determining their seeding for the final event. Combined team member scores decide the seeding for men's and women's team events, while the mixed team event seeding is based on the highest individual scores from both categories. The top four teams advance directly to the quarter-finals, and the next eight teams compete in the Round of 16. For the mixed team event, only the top 16 seeds qualify, making the ranking round crucial.
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The ranking round is critical as it sets the stage for the knockout stages. Archers can score up to 720 points, and their total scores rank them from highest to lowest. This ranking determines their seeding for the knockout stages, where the top 32 archers in each category face opponents accordingly. The ranking round also determines team rankings for both men and women, based on combined individual scores, and establishes the 16 pairs for the mixed team event by combining the highest men¡¯s and women¡¯s scores from each country.
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