Paris 2024 Olympics archery: Bhajan Kaur marches into pre-quarterfinals; Dhiraj Bommadevara’s run ends

India's Bhajan Kaur secured two convincing wins in the individual women's archery event, advancing to the pre-quarterfinals at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Tuesday at Les Invalides.

Archers compete in best-of-five sets in the individual archery events at the Olympics. Each archer shoots three arrows per set and the archer with the higher aggregate score earns two points. If a set is drawn, each archer is awarded one point.

In the round of 64, the 22nd-seeded Bhajan Kaur overcame Indonesia’s 43rd-seeded Syifa Nurafifah Kamal with a score of 7-3 (27-27, 27-29, 29-27, 27-25, 28-25). Kaur was trailing 3-1 after two sets but shot four 10s in the next three sets to secure the win.

In the round of 32, Kaur got the better of Poland’s 54th seed Wioleta Myszor, winning the contest 6-0 (28-23, 29-26, 28-22). She was also the most consistent Indian archer in the team event last Sunday.

Ankita Bhakat, who had emerged as the top Indian woman archer in the ranking rounds with 11th seed on Thursday, was stunned by Myszor in the round of 64. Bhakat, despite leading 4-2 at one stage, lost the contest 6-4 (27-26, 26-29, 27-28, 29-27, 28-27).

In the men’s event, Dhiraj Bommadevara, who finished fourth in the ranking round last week, hit his mark consistently against the 61st seed Adam Li of Czechia in his round of 64 match to win 7-1 (29-29, 29-26, 29-28, 28-26).

Bommadevara continued the good form in the round of 32 match against the 36th seed, Eric Peters of Canada, but the Canadian hit seven 10s in a row, including one in the shoot-off to win the contest.

The scores were tied at 5-5 (28-27, 28-29, 29-27, 30-30, 29-30) at the end of five sets. Both archers hit 10s in the shoot-offs but Eric’s shot was closer to the centre.

Veterans Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai will begin their campaigns on Wednesday.