Ankita Bhakat outplayed Gabrielle Monica Bidaure of Philippines to enter the quarterfinals of the Final Olympic Qualifier here on Sunday, and the effort also helped her seal an individual quota in women’s archery for next month’s Paris Games.
Ninth seed Ankita cruised to a 6-0 (26-23, 28-22, 28-23) win over her 40th seeded rival in the pre-quarterfinals. India thus have secured individual quotas in both men’s and women’s sections. Dhiraj Bommadevara had secured the men’s individual quota from the Asian qualifying leg earlier.
In the earlier rounds, Ankita had defeated Shelley Hilton 6-4 (24-26, 25-25, 28-20, 25-25, 27-25) and Mikaella Moshe 7-3 (28-25, 25-27, 27-27, 28-25, 26-25), both from Israel, to make it to the last-16.
Ankita will face top-seed Mobina Fallah of Iran in the quarters.
Third seed Bhajan, who got a bye into the round of 32, overcame Urantungalag Bishindee of Mongolia 6-2 (29-27, 28-26, 26-29, 27-24) is also in the fray for a podium finish and will take on Urska Cavic of Slovenia in her pre-quarters. The individual quotas are allotted to the top-eight nations. Each country gets one individual quota.