Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat in action at the Paris Olympics (AP)
The Indians fell to the Koreans 6-2 in a contested game of 38-36, 35-38, 37-38, 38-39 that went all the way down to the last set.
India fell just short of securing another medal finish as the duo of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat fell to the top-seeded South Korean duo of Lim Si-hyeon and Kim Woo-jin in the Archery Mixed Team Semifinals at the Paris Olympics on Friday.
The Indians fell to the Koreans 6-2 in a contested game of 38-36, 35-38, 37-38, 38-39 that went all the way down to the last set.
India, who have never crossed the quarterfinal hurdles in the Olympics, mostly falling to archery powerhouse South Korea, were once again taked with overcoming the same rivals to clinch their first ever medal in the event.
And this time around, history did not repeat itself, as the Indian duo shot their way to victory and Olympic glory to qualify for the finals.
Set 1 started off heavily conteted a Korea put a strong 36 points, but Dhiraj was on point with his shots, to secure two 10s and helped India takes the first two points, winning the first set 38-36.
None of this made the Koreans, who came out scoring 10s, with their first shots, to set the stage up for the Indians, who just couldn’t stack up to their opponents, losing the second set 38-35, as the match was tied up at 2-2.
With the momentum shift, the duo of Si-hyeon and Woo-jin put up a staggering 38 points. And with Dhiraj needing a perfect 9 to tie the game up, the Indian jsut missed the mark to score 8, and handed over the third set win at 38-37 and two more points to the Koreans, to allow the rivals to take a 4-2 lead over India.
With a final spot on the line, Ankita and Dhiraj scored 9s each to pile the pressure on the Koreans, who in cold-blooded retaliation scoerd two perfect 10s to shift the pressure onto the Indians.
The Indian duo though took up tht challenge, scoring two 10s of their own, leaving Korea needing 19 points to win the match.
And with the game on the line and 10 points needed to win, Kim Woo-Jin shot a perfect 10 to clinch the narrow 39-38 win and seal the match 6-2.
Having seeded straight to the quarters yesterday, the men’s and women’s teams needed two wins to land a historic first Olympic medal in archery since their debut in the 1988 Seoul Games.
Dhiraj-Ankita started off with a blazing win against Spain’s managed to get the better of Indonesia’s Diananda Choirunisa and Arif Pangestu by a margin of 5-1 in the mixed team 1/8 elimination round to progress to the semifinal.
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