Paris Olympics: India Won't Change Dhiraj Bommadevara, Ankita Bhakat as Mixed Team Pair Despite Good Showing by Bhajan Kaur

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It was always expected to be an uphill task for the Indian archery contingent to climb the podium at the Paris Olympics 2024. A lot of those hopes rested on how the archers performed in the team events, but both the men's and women's teams flattered to deceive.

The women bowed out to the Netherlands 6-0 in the quarterfinals, while the men lost 6-2 at the hands of Turkiye at the same stage. Most eyeballs were placed firmly on Ankita Bhakat, who top-scored in the qualifying round.

However, she shot a four in one of the sets while World No. 12 Deepika Kumari was her usual inconsistent self. Only Bhajan Kaur, the youngest among the trio, showed composure and was by far the most consistent, as she shot three 10s and two 9s.

That trend continued in the individual rounds as well, with Ankita getting eliminated in the Round of 64 against Wioleta Myszor, who was subsequently beaten by Bhajan, who has qualified for the Round of 16, along with Deepika. This has raised questions about the composition of the mixed team in Paris.

Rules state that the top-ranking archer in each section (men and women) qualifies to be a part of the mixed team event, with their combined score resulting in their seeding. However, the country can choose to nominate someone else while keeping the scores intact. Ankita finished 11th, while both the remaining archers finished outside the top 20. There has been a growing clamour for the inclusion of Bhajan.

However, despite the disappointing displays since the qualification round, Ankita is expected to keep her place alongside Dhiraj Bommadevara, who had finished top among men. Incidentally, after the men's team got eliminated, many were asking for Pravin Jadhav's inclusion as well. There were discussions, but the Archery Association of India have no plans of changing the combination.

Back in Tokyo 2020, there was unnecessary controversy surrounding the mixed team, with Deepika topping among women while Jadhav did so among the men. The former World No. 1 wanted to play with her husband, Atanu Das, but AAI did not budge. After the mixed team's elimination, a lot of blame was put on the federation, but they are just going by the rules and rewarding the most consistent archer instead of tweaking the system at the last moment.

In a bid to avoid controversy, AAI have ensured that all the archers have partnered with each other during training to build up some sort of camaraderie instead of trying to only play with their chosen partners. Together, the duo of Ankita and Dhiraj are fifth seeds and will face Indonesia first, and if they win, they can potentially set up a quarterfinal clash against China.

Archery Psychologist Won't Make it to Paris

Meanwhile, one person who will not be there to witness the mixed team event, as well as the individual rounds, is the mental trainer Gayatri Madkekar. Initially, visa issues arose due to a problem accessing her biometric data but the Sports Ministry had assured that everything would be sorted and she would be in Paris in time to help the archers ahead of the team events.

However, that did not happen and ultimately she was told that her visa was denied and she would have to apply afresh. There is no point in applying again as by the time the process might be cleared, India's archers would have already come back home. Another huge gaffe that could have been avoided.