Paris 2024: With bronze at stake, archers go off-target
A fourth-place finish in the mixed event that was, as so often has been the case with Indian archery, another miss
Paris: As the dust settled on another medal day in archery that went by India, legendary archer Brady Ellison — one half of the American mixed team bronze medallists — reflected on what makes the Koreans, gold medallists on the day once again, so good. Designed to do so physically and mentally for years growing up in a sport of repetitions, they are champions by habit.
The Indians are making a bit of a habit of heartbreaks in archery. Of varied forms — first round shockers, quarter-final blips, seasoned campaigners going silent. The latest came on Friday in the form of a fourth-place finish in the mixed event that was, as so often has been the case with Indian archery, another miss.
Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat lost to Americans Ellison and Casey Kaufhold 6-2 in the mixed team bronze medal match at the Esplanade des Invalides. The Indians carried decent form from earlier in the day, going past Indonesia 5-1 and Spain 5-3 in the quarter-finals before running into South Korea and going down 2-6 after grabbing the first set.
USA, with four-time Olympic medallist Ellison and 2021 World Championships silver medallist Kaufhold, were no Korea but weren’t as unbeatable too. Ankita hit low 7s that immediately put the Indians on the back foot in the first two sets that they lost. A 10 each by Dhiraj and Ankita and a 7 by Kaufhold kept India in it, but a couple of 8s by Ankita in the fourth set soon put them out.
All of India’s archery misses at the Olympics have worn a common thread — the pressure of the occasion breaking them come crunch time. That continued in this near-miss too.
“I allowed the pressure to get the better of me. As we kept winning, the thought of winning a medal grew,” Ankita said.
Dhiraj, a first-time Olympian coming in with promise and good form, knew that pressure would play a part. He’d even heard it from those in the squad who’ve been there and experienced that, the likes of Deepika Kumari, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav. He braced for it, just not for the magnitude of it.
“Just getting a sense of the occasion was a big deal. Playing World Cups and other tournaments, no one has that kind of inclination coming into the Olympics,” Dhiraj said. “Our teammates who have been to the Olympics before had told us about that pressure, and we had thought about it and come. But coming here, on the first day of the team event itself, I realised there is no limit to that pressure.”
Dhiraj singled out “little lack of experience” and “managing some windy conditions” as the difference between the Indian and the American duo on the day. His Olympics is now over, after a faltering early exit by the men’s team and the fighting shootout exit in the individual event.
“The first event didn’t go as per plan, I agree. But from there, we learnt and improved immediately. Things take time to change, and big failures only show us the way forward,” he said.
Call the latest fourth-place finish a failure or the finest in Indian archery at the Games — none from the country had come this close earlier — but the wait of an Olympic medal from Indian archery continues.
“It’s very disappointing when you finish one step short of a medal. But the way we’re looking at this fourth, which is a first in Indian archery, is an improvement. There were just a few minor aspects where we lacked to win a medal this time. And we will work on that moving ahead,” Dhiraj said. “But yes, this defeat will hurt.”