Asian Games Archery: India makes quarters in six team and six individual events

Indian archers showed tenacity and authority in equal measure to storm into the quarterfinals in all the six team events as well as six archers also make the quarterfinals of individual events at the Asian Games on Monday.

First, it was the top-seeded compound mixed team of Pravin Ojas Deotale and Jyothi Surekha Vennam, who showed the way as they dropped just one point from 16 arrows to eliminate UAE's Amna Alawadhi and Mohammed Binamro 159-151. The pair will next take on Malaysia (No 8 seed) in the quarters

The fifth seeded Indian recurve mixed pair of Atanu Das and Ankita Bhakat overcome a first-set deficit to defeat Malaysian team of Syaqiera Binti Mashayikh and Muhamad Zarif Syahir Bin Zolkepeli 6-2 (39-38, 37-36, 39-33).

In compound men's team event, the second-seeded Indians trio of Pravin Ojas Deotale, Abhishek Verma and Prathamesh Jawkar thrashed 15th seed Singapore (Woon Teng Ng, Lee Chung Hee Alan, Jun Hui Goh) 235-219.. The compound men's team next opponent is lower-ranked Bhutan in the quarters and will likely face the third seeded Chinese Taipei in the semifinals.

The top-seeded Indian women's compound team of Jyothi, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur, who got a bye into the quarters, will open its campaign against ninth-seeded Hong Kong

The Indian men's recurve team of Das, Dhiraj and Tushar Shelke beat Hong Kong's Kwok Yin Chai, Law Kwun Pok Lucien and Wn Chun Kit 6-0 (58-47, 57-49, 57-55) in a lopsided contest. The third-seeded Indians, who face lower-ranked Mongolia (No 11) in the last-eight, have an easy draw till the final, with Korea and Japan in the top half.

The unfancied women's recurve team of Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur and Simranjeet Kaur also shone through, ousting 12th seeded Thailand. The fifth-seeded Indians won 5-1 (49-47, 54-54, 55-54) and are pitted against fourth-seeded Japan in a tough quarterfinal match-up.

There are six quota spots available from the Asian Games for The Paris Olympics - the recurve mixed team winners and two archers ranked high in the individual events.

Four Indian compound archers Aditi Swami, Jyothi Vennam, Ojas Deotale and Abhishek Verma are through to compound quarterfinals after they won in the first two rounds.. India's first individual world champion Aditi Swami won 148-146 against Indonesia's Syahara Khoerunisa. Earlier, the 17-year-old Indian archer had beaten Imayung Rai in the previous round.

Meanwhile, Jyothi Vennam has beaten Iraq's Fatimah Saad Mahmood by 146-141, following the 145-132 success against Anuradha Wijesinghe Karunaratne in the 1/16 eliminator.

On the other hand, India's first men's world champion Ojas Deotale also bagged a 148-138 victory against Kuwait's Ahmad Alshatti in the 1/16 eliminator. But then the 21-year-old Indian archer won a close fight pre-quarterfinal against Chinese Taipei's Chen Chieh-Lun by 146-145.

Three-time Asian Games medallist Abhishek Verma won 146-142 against Vietnam's Nguyen van Day in the 1/8 eliminator after beating Belal Ayman Alawadi of Saudi Arabia earlier on Monday.

In Recurve Section, Atanu Das won 7-1 against Tajikistan's Robert Nam in the men's recurve pre-quarterfinal. Earlier the 31-year-old Atanu Das defeated Malaysia's Bin Mohamad Khairul Anuar 6-4. He will go up against China's Qi Xiangshuo in the quarter-final tomorrow.

Dhiraj Bommadevara joined his compatriot in the quarter-final after winning 6-5 via a shoot-off against Bangladesh's Mohammad Hakim Ahmed. Earlier he overpowered Bhutan's Lam Dorji 6-2. Dhiraj will face Ilfat Abdullin of Kazakhstan tomorrow.

Bhajan Kaur and Ankita Bhakat failed to make the women's recurve quarter-finals. Bhajan Kaur lost 3-7 in the pre-quarterfinal against Korea's San An while Ankita Bhakat was ousted after a 5-6 defeat against Indonesia's Rezza Octavia.

(With the inputs from PTI)