Archery
Archery World Cup Stage 3: Dhiraj, Ankita storm into recurve semis
Indian archers Dhiraj and Ankita reach semifinals; mixed team to compete for bronze at World Cup Stage 3.
Indian archers Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat storm towards a medal at the World Cup Stage 3 on Friday, both advancing to the individual semifinals.
Meanwhile, the Indian mixed team remained in contention for a bronze medal.
Dhiraj and Ankita in individual semi-finals
Dhiraj demonstrated exceptional skill, defeating Bangladesh’s Mohammed Sagor Islam 6-0, Indonesia’s Riau Salsabilla 7-1, Colombia’s Santiago Arango 6-4, and Germany’s Jonathon Vetter 7-3.
His next challenge is Korea’s Olympic and World gold medallist Kim Woojin in the semifinal round.
However, his teammates Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai were unable to advance past the first round.
Ankita Bhakat also showed remarkable performance, securing victories over Iran’s Mobina Fallah 6-4, Ukraine’s Veronika Marchenko 7-1, China’s Li Jiaman 6-5 (9-8), and Korea’s Jeon Hunyoung 6-4.
Ankita will compete against China’s top-ranked Yang Xiaolei in the semifinals. Unfortunately, her compatriots Deepika Kumari and Bhajan Kaur faced early exits.
Deepika was narrowly defeated by Yang in a shoot-off, losing 5-6 (8-10) in the third round, while Bhajan Kaur exited in the second round.
Mixed team eyes bronze
In team events, the Indian recurve mixed team, comprising Bhajan Kaur and Dhiraj Bommadevara, began strong with victories over Great Britain and Brazil, both by 5-1 margins.
However, they fell to South Korea 3-5 in the semifinals. They will compete against Mexico for the bronze medal on Sunday.
In the compound mixed team event, the top-seeded Indian duo Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Priyansh started with a win against Estonia, 158-156. Their journey ended in the quarterfinals after a close loss to Italy, 154-156.