The Indian women’s recurve archery team, consisting of Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, and Simranjeet Kaur, made a remarkable comeback after a semi-final loss to Korea earlier in the day, to defeat Vietnam to win the bronze medal on Friday, October 6.The trio defeated Vietnam 6-2 to add to India’s medal rush in archery, where they have already secured three golds so far.
The semi-final match against Korea didn’t go according to plan for Ankita, Bhajan and Simranjeet, with Korea racing to a 4-0 lead in the first two sets. India were able to score 54 points in both sets while Korea scored 56 and 57 respectively.India were able to get on the board finally in the third set, but it was a little too late for them. Korea would see off the contest by securing the final set and progressing to the summit clash. Ankita, Bhajan and Simranjeet didn’t allow the semi-final disappointment to get to them in the bronze medal match and were out of the blocks quickly. They won the first set 56-52 but Vietnam would bag the second one to make it 2-2.The third set saw India win by a healthy margin of 57-50 to take a 4-2 lead in the contest. The start of the fourth set wasn’t the best for India but the trio would regain their composure and would win it 51-48 to claim the bronze.
This was India’s fourth medal in archery during the Asian Games as they had secured the top spot on the podium in Compound men’s team, Compound women’s team and Compound mixed team events. The Compound men’s individual final will be an all-Indian affair as Abhishek Verma and Pravin Deotale will battle it out for the gold medal on October 7.
