Dhaka: India’s Ankita Bhakat secured a landmark victory by defeating Paris Olympics individual silver medallist Nam Su-hyeon of Korea 7-3 to capture the women’s recurve individual gold at the Asian Archery Championships in Dhaka Friday.
Ankita took the lead in the opening set with a tally of 29-27. However, the Korean archer came back to draw the second set. Ankita, who had a 3-1 lead, lost the third set 26-28 as Nam levelled the score 3-3 in the summit clash.
The Indian archer made a strong return in the penultimate set as she shot double 10s to reclaim the lead 5-3. In the final and fifth set, Ankita came out all guns blazing and was at her best form as she shot double 10s before culminating the match with 9 to accumulate 29 and secured the gold medal with a score of 7-3.
In the semifinal clash, Ankita outclassed five-time Olympian and fellow Indian Deepika Kumari 6-5 in a thrilling shoot-off. Ankita started the match on high and cruised to a 4-0 lead after the second set.
Meanwhile, the veteran Indian archer proved her class and staged a fightback to draw the third set before clinching the last two sets to level the match 5-5 after five sets. In the shoot-off, Ankita prevailed over her senior compatriot to book the final berth.
Earlier, Ankita had defeated top seed Jang Minhee to set up a meeting with teammate and five-time Olympian Deepika Kumari, who also impressed in her quarterfinal against Lee Gahyun, making it an all-Indian clash for a spot in the final.
In the second semifinal, India’s Sangeeta, who continued her steady rise after previous success at the Tashkent 2023 Asia Cup, lost to Nam Su-hyeon 0-6. Meanwhile, she concluded her campaign in the recurve women’s individual event with a bronze medal against Deepika.
Sangeeta outclassed Deepika 6-5 in the shoot-off to win the bronze medal for the country.
Earlier in the day, the Indian men’s recurve team upstaged Korea in the final to win the gold medal for the first time in the competition since 2007. Korea were unbeaten in the event since 2013.
The Indian team, comprising Yashdeep Bhoge, Atanu Das and Rahul, emerged victorious by a slender 5-4 margin courtesy of a shoot-off. Both teams shot 29 apiece in the shoot-off, but India won gold as Rahul’s arrow was closest to the centre.
Meanwhile, the recurve mixed team of Anshika Kumari and Yashdeep lost the bronze medal match to the Korean duo of Jang Minhee and Seo Mingi.
IANS
