Paris Olympics: Bhajan Kaur moves to pre-quarters; Ankita, Dhiraj’s campaign ends

PTI, Jul 31, 2024, 8:29 AM IST

Paris: Indian archer Bhajan Kaur notched twin victories to advance to the women’s individual pre-quarterfinals but compatriot Dhiraj Bommadevara exited the men’s event after losing in the shoot-off at the Paris Olymics here on Tuesday.

Continuing her fine form, the 18-year-old Kaur, who had shot exceptionally well in the team event albeit in a losing cause, defeated Indonesia’s Syifa Nurafifah Kamal and Wioleta Myszor of Poland in her opening two rounds.

Fourth seed Dhiraj, on the other hand, ended up on the losing side after coming agonisingly close the pre-quarters as he lost his round of 32 match in shoot-off to Canadian Eric Peters.

Ankita Bhakat also made an early exit after stumbling in the opening round. She went down 4-6 (26-27 29-26 28-27 27-29 27-28) to Myszor.

Kaur took her opening round against the Indonesian 7-3 (27-27 27-29 29-27 27-25 28-25).

While the first set was a tie with both archers sharing a point each, Kaur shot three 9s as compared to Kamal’s one 9 and two 10s to lose the second set.

However, the youngster held her nerve and went on to win the next three sets on the back of her consistent shooting.

Having found her rhythm, she avenged Bhakat’s defeat, inflicting a 6-0 (28-23 29-26 28-22) defeat on Myszor in the next round.

She will take on Diananda Choirunisa in the round of 16 match on Saturday.

Later in the day, Dhiraj began his campaign with a dominant 7-1 (29-29 29-26 29-28 28-26)win over Adam Li of Czech Republic.

In the round of 32 match, both Dhiraj and Peters fought toe-to-toe finishing on 5 points after the five sets forcing a shoot off.

In the shoot-off both hit in the inner 10-ring but Peters edged out Dhiraj by shooting closer to the centre to take the match 7-6 (27-28 29-28 27-29 30-30 30-29).