Deepika, Ankita enter semis of Asian archery; secure individual Olympic quota

India on Thursday secured an individual Olympic quota in archery for 2020 Tokyo Games after Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat stormed into semifinals of women's recurve event in 21st Asian Archery Championships here. Three individual places were up for grabs from continental qualifications and Indian archers me a big statement with top-seed Deepika and sixth seed Ankita making it to last four rounds to secure an individual Olympic berth. Karma of Bhutan and Nguyet Do Thi Anh of Vietnam won remaining two individual quota places at Rajamangala National Stium.

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Deepika put up a flawless show to beat Nur Afisa Abdul Halil of Malaysia 7-2, Zahra Nemati (Iran) 6-4 and local girl Narisara Khunhiranchaiyo 6-2 to set up a semifinal clash against Nguyet. Ankita, on or hand, defeated Lam Shuk Ching a of Hong Kong 7-1, Nguyen Thi Phuong of Vietnam 6-0 and Anastassiya Banva (Kazhakstan) 6-4 to set up a last-four battle against Karma. Indian trio of Deepika, Ankita and Laishram Bombayala Devi competed under a neutral flag due to suspension of Archery Association of India.

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It is India's second Olympic quota place in archery after men's recurve team of  Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das and Pravin Jhav h secured first one in World Championships earlier this year. Berlin st of 2020 World Cup is last qualifying event in archery.

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