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Indian archer Bhajan Kaur suffered a gutwrenching shoot-off loss against Diananda Choirunisa of Indonesia in the Round of 16 clash of the women's singles archery event at the Paris Olympics 2024. Before Kaur, Deepika Kumari won her RO16 contest 6-4 against Germany's Michelle Kroppen after the fifth set was tied 27-27 and reached the quarterfinals.
The pre-quarterfinal didn't start well for Bhajan Kaur as the Indonesian competitor took the first set 0-2, scoring 29. The Indian levelled the fixture in the second set with a 27-25 score but Choirunisa jumped ahead with a 4-2 lead after winning Set 3.
Set 4 ended in a tie as both competitors scored 28 points each. The fifth set started with nines across the board before Kaur hit an eight, which Choirunisa repeated. The Indian then built on the positive momentum to take Set 5 and force a shoot-off. Kaur's fortunes didn't last long as she hit an 8 to Diananda Choirunisa's 9 and suffered a heartbreaking defeat.
Kaur advanced to the Round of 32 by beating Indonesia’s Syifa Nurafifah Kamal on Tuesday, July 30. Kaur won three sets to two in a five-set match and qualified for further stage of the multi-sporting tournament. She was also the most consistent performer in the team event where India lost against the Netherlands.
On August 2, the Indian mixed archery team of Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara suffered a 6-2 loss against Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold of the USA. Before this bronze medal match, India lost to the South Korean pair of Lim Si-Hyeon and Kim Woo-jin in the semis and defeated Elia Canales and Pablo Acha Gonzalez of Spain in the quarterfinal.
