How Indian archers hit the bull's-eye

India's recurve archers set a roadmap for future by ending South Korea's reign at the Asian Archery Championships

- Deepti Patwardhan

Over a year ago, at the 2024 Paris Games, Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara had landed on the most wretched place to be in the Olympics. Fourth. In a blink of an eye, hope had turned to heartbreak.

To overcome that, Bhakat, 27, and Bommadevara, 24, took entirely different approaches. While Bhakat tried to wipe the slate clean and forget past misadventures, Bommadevara held on to that pain, using it as a fuel to pursue his dreams. Both of them found redemption in some degree last week as they became the first from the country to win women's and men's individual recurve titles at the Asian Archery Championships held in Dhaka.

India ended South Korea's reign at the top of the medals table with a tally of 10 medals: six gold, three silver and one bronze. The men's recurve team also wrested back the title, with Rahul Pawariya, Atanu Das and Yashdeep Sanjay Bhoge winning a gold for India for the first time since 2007.

"This is a big breakthrough," says Tarundeep Rai, 41, who has competed in four Olympics for India. "Over the last few years, we have seen compound archers win medals by the bucketload in big events. Recurve archers were winning few and far between, but not enough to keep India happy. Ankita and Dhiraj winning individual golds is one the biggest achievements I have seen in Indian archery. It is the spark of inspiration we were looking for."

As Rai says, Indian compound archers have consistently done well at major events. But recurve hits differently. That's the form of archery that enjoys top Olympic billing. Long considered one of India's strongest suits at the Olympics, archery has yet not yielded any medals. In fact, Bommadevara and Bhakat's fourth-place finish was the closest India has ever got to the podium.