New Delhi, Oct 6 (PTI) ‘Bindaas maro’ (shoot fearlessly) was the mantra the underrated Indian women archers followed as they ended India’s 13-year wait for a medal in the Olympic discipline recurve section by returning with a bronze at the Asian Games.
Seeded fifth, India defeated lower-ranked Japan 6-2 before going down to top-seeded South Korea 2-6 to get into the bronze playoff where they emerged 6-2 winners against Vietnam.
Indian recurve archers failed to win a medal in the last two edition of the Games and, this time too, all the focus in the Olympic section was on the men’s team that had rising archer Dhiraj Bommadevara, who is on a career-high ranking of world No 15, double Olympian Atanu Das and Tushar Shelke.
“Nobody gave us a chance, so I told them (Ankita Bhakat, Simranjeet Kaur and Bhajan Kaur) ‘bindaas maro’ as if it’s your practice match. We had nothing to lose,” women’s team coach Purnima Mahato told
Source: PTI News
