India's record in archery at the Olympics is pretty poor, having not won a single medal in the sport. The women's team came very close in 2016 though.
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The sport of archery has seen very few nations actually claim medals as far as Olympics history is concerned. Despite making its debut in the Summer Games of 1900, the event at one point struggled to even attract many participants. In fact in 1900, 1904, 1908 and 1920 at most three nations competed in the discipline. This meant that whosoever was participating was in fact guaranteed a medal! In fact at the 1920 Games of Antwerp, only two nations took part in archery – meaning no bronze medal was handed out. That being said, this changed from 1972 onwards. The competition was more standardised and a lot more countries took part.
The most successful nation in the sport has been South Korea. The Asian nation have won a whopping 23 out of 39 gold medals up for grabs in singles events.
India’s record in archery at the Olympics is pretty poor, having not won a single medal in the sport. However, it isn’t down to a lack of trying. Indeed, they came mightily close to winning a medal in 2016.
Here we look back at the Indian women’s archery team nearly pulling off a miraculous feat and winning an archery medal.
As mentioned earlier, India’s medal history in the sport of archery at the Games was non-existent. However, there was cautious optimism that the duck could be broken in 2016 at Rio Games.
The reason for this was because the Indian women’s archery team had won a silver medal in the 2015 Archery World Cup. Thus, there was some hope they could repeat this feat during the Olympics too.
Of course, it was never going to be an easy feat. But the archery team had three solid archers in Laishram Bombayla Devi, Laxmirani Manjhi and Deepika Kumari.
Plus, the format of the team event lent itself to a few upsets here or there. The event would feature 12 teams – one from each country – with every team consisting of six archers.
The 12 teams would first have what is referred to as a ranking round. Basically, every archer would shoot 72 arrows and the combined score would be used to rank the teams.
From there, the Top 4 nations would automatically qualify for the quarterfinals of the tournament. However, the remaining 8 teams would be drawn into a single-round elimination match-up.
The team ranked 5th would face the team ranked 12th, whereas the team ranked 6th would face the team ranked 11th. Furthermore, the team ranked 7th would face the 10th and the team ranked 8th would face the team ranked 9th.
The event would also feature a third-place play-off to determine who would be awarded a bronze medal. That match was, of course, contested by the losers of the semi-finals.
The basic rules for every match was simple. Every match consists of four sets of 6 arrows, with every archer firing two arrows each.
If a team wins the set, they are awarded two set points and a draw sees both teams receive a set point each. The first team to reach 5 set points is considered the winners.
If both teams were even on points after four sets, the match went into a shoot-off.
The ranking round saw South Korea, Russia, China and Chinese Taipei qualify in the first four spots, respectively. It was a sign of things to come, as barring China, every of the other top four teams won a medal.
The Indian team finished in 7th, meaning they would take on 10th placed Colombia in the pre-quarters of the tournament.
The round of 16 match between these two nations lasted for four sets. India narrowly won the first set 52-51 to take a 2-0 lead. However, by the end of the second set the score was 2-2 thanks to Colombia winning the second one 50-49.
The third set was drawn 52 each, meaning the score now stood at 3-3. However, it also ramped up the pressure on both teams. Whoever won the next set was guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals.
India managed a score of 52 in the fourth set. Colombia needed 28 points in the final three arrows to overcome that score and take the match.
But Colombian archer Caroline Aguirre clearly felt the pressure as she shot erratically and their response to India’s 52 was a meek 44. Thus, India were in the last 8 where they would face Russia.
The match began poorly for the Indians as they lost the first set 48-55. However, they pulled things back in the next two sets which they claimed 53-52 and 52-50.
The pressure was now on the Russians. Since India were up 4-2, they needed to win the final set to force a shoot-off. Even a draw was enough for India at that point, since the 1 point would see them reach the magical number of 5.
However, it was the Russians who held their nerve and won the set 55-54. With momentum now fully in their favour, they won the ensuing shoot-off 25-23. India were out.
Nevertheless, credit must be given to the team for coming that close – especially in a sport where India have traditionally not performed well at the Olympics.
