CHENNAI: The Indian recurve mixed team of Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara produced an excellent performance but fell short of a podium finish at the Paris Olympics on Friday.
The American duo of Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold won the bronze medal match 6-2 after India lost to South Korea in the semi-final, who went on to win their second consecutive gold in the event, while Germany took the silver medal.
Earlier in the day, the Indian pair started their mixed team event with a dominant win over Indonesia (5-1), followed by a 5-3 win against Spain's pair of Elia Canales and Pablo Acha. With that win, India made it to the semi-final of the archery event in the Olympics for the first time.
In the semi-final against the mighty Koreans, Bhakat and Bommadevara started well by winning the first set, but Korea made a comeback by winning the next three sets.
There was still hope for India to bag their first-ever archery medal in any event, but India's start was shaky to begin with. Despite two 10s from Bommadevara, they could not salvage the set. The same pattern followed in the second set, where the medal slipped from India's hand.
The pair made a comeback in the third set with 38 points compared to 34 scored by the USA, but it was too little too late in the end. The American pair took the final set to win the bronze medal.
With that, India's team challenge at the 2024 Olympics is over. Bhajan Kaur and Deepika Kumar are the only two archers remaining in the contest in the women's individual event.
