Indian mixed team archery pair of Dhiraj-Ankita happy with historic feat, sad at losing medal

Paris, Aug 2 (PTI) Varied emotions pervaded the Indian archery camp after the country's mixed team pair missed a historic bronze following loss to the USA, with Dhiraj Bommadevara saying that while making the semifinals for the first time was historic, losing the medal made him feel despondent.

India achieved a historic first in archery when the mixed team pair of Dhiraj and Ankita Bhakat entered the last-four round for the first time in nine Olympic appearances, only to lose to powerhouse South Korea and then unexpectedly go down to the USA in the bronze medal play-off.

"Of course, it feels very sad when you're in fourth place, one step behind the medal. But we're also thinking in a way that we haven't come in fourth till date.

"I mean, we haven't even made it to the top-four. So, it's a good thing for us that we're improving since the last few Olympics. And whether it's a mixed team event, a team event, an individual event, we all gave our best," said the 22-year-old, a member of the silver medal-winning men's recurve team at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

He said that on the performance front the duo just followed the same routine they do in other international events and they would work on some minor issues to come back stronger.

"We performed the same way as we normally do in the World Cups, even if it's (Olympics) a very different stage for everyone. These are minor things that we've lacked from winning the medal this time. So, of course, we'll work on them.

"This loss is very painful, but it will make us stronger from within," he said.

He added that the pressure of competing in the Olympics was something that cannot be comprehended.

"Of course, teammates like Tarundeep Rai and Deepika Kumari, have played in the Olympics and tell us that there's a lot of pressure. Even after they told us, we (tried to) keep it to a (reasonable) level.

"But it's very different to guess that (pressure) compared to the World Cups and the World Cup finals. No one had a clue about that. We realised that there's no limit to it. We faced it on the first day of the event itself," Dhiraj said.

He agreed that India were not off to a great start when the archery competitions began with both the men's and women's teams bowing out early. He attributed it to pressure.

"I agree that there was a lot of mess in the first event. But after that, we learned from that and got back on track. There was a lot of improvement. And it takes time for such good things. And there's a lot of failure on the way to victory," he added.

He also said that while India were off to a good start on Friday, defeating Indonesia and Spain on way to the semifinal's, thanks to favourable weather, the pressure of a medal got to him.

"There was less heat and less wind (in early rounds). As the matches progressed, of course, there was a lot of pressure of winning the medal. And even then, we just focused on our work. But as luck would have it, there was a little wind in the last match (against USA).

"But, of course, the wind is the same for both teams. We failed a little bit in that. We were one step behind in managing it," Dhiraj said.

"Our American opponents Casey Kaufhold and Brady Ellison have a lot of experience. Brady has seen a lot of Olympics." Ankita said though she managed to handle pressure, the wind factor played a role in the team missing the medal.

"I took some pressure. As we were moving forward, I was hoping for a medal. So, I took some pressure. There was some wind too. So, I couldn't control myself." On the overall experience of the Games, Ankita said, she was happy as well as sad as they had made it to the last-four for the first time in history and then lost the medal.

"I am feeling very good. Because we have reached here for the first time. And I am feeling a little sad. That we could not win the medal even after reaching so far. But it is very good that we are improving slowly. And we will do more in the future." PTI AT AM AM SSC SSC