Archery: Bhajan Kaur secures Paris Olympics quota; India’s first in women’s event

Bhajan Kaur won India’s first 2024 Paris Olympics quota in women’s individual recurve archery at the final world qualifying tournament in Antalya on Sunday.

The 18-year-old Kaur became only the second Indian to win a quota place in archery at the Paris Games after Dhiraj Bommaderava in the men’s event.

Kaur secured the quota in style, beating Iran’s Mobina Fallah 6-2 in the gold medal match.

The Indian started with two nines with her first two arrows in the gold medal match, but still managed to clinch the set 28-26 to go 2-0 up.

She then shared the spoils with Fallah in the second set as both archers shot 29 apiece, before winning the third set 29-26.

The fourth set also ended 29-29, but it was enough for Kaur to walk away with a 6-2 win.

Kaur had earlier defeated Moldova’s Alexandra Mirca 6-2 to book a spot in the final.

Earlier in the day, Ankita Bhakat had won the 2024 Paris Olympics quota for India after qualifying for the quarter-finals with a 6-0 win over Monica Bidaure.

The quota was, however, transferred to Kaur as Bhakat bowed out in the quarter-finals following a 4-6 loss to eventual silver medallist Fallah and the former reached semi-finals.

Kaur’s quota win also means that India will have a representation in...

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