After breaching Korean barrier in 2025, archer Ankita Bhakat targets bigger things in the new year

“The day me and Dhiraj finished fourth at Paris, I could not sleep the whole night. Itne dur tak pahunchi hun, iss se bhi aage jana hai (I have reached so far and have to go further). When I started archery at the Circus ground in Kolkata, I shot with wooden bows and from there, I reached the Olympics. In Korea when I would go to fetch my arrows from the snow, I would tell myself that I have to practice more to win the Olympic gold one day,” said Bhakat while speaking to The Indian Express.

Bhakat, who grew up watching her father manage his dairy and distribute milk packets, shifted base to the Tata Academy in Jamshedpur at the age of 15, after being selected for a stipend of Rs 1500 initially. She first made it to the Indian team in 2016 and over the last nine years has won multiple medals including a team bronze at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. At the Paris Games, Bhakat and Bommadevara reached the mixed team semis. The pair lost to Koreans  Lim Sihyeon and Kim Woojin and would face Americans Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold in the bronze-medal match. Bhakat, who finished 2024 with a point average of 9.06 per shot, tragically hit a four during the women’s quarter-final and a seven during the mixed team loss. With social media targeting her two ‘bad’ shots, the archer spoke about how she sees ‘those’ shots.

Ankita Bhakat in action. (FILE photo)

“I am not that active on social media so I don’t know what people are saying. But then I believe jaise 10 lagta hai, 7-8 bhi lagta hai. (Like a ten is hit, 7-8s also happen.) Nobody hits such shots off their own will. I think about how to get better after mistakes,” said Bhakat.

This year has seen Bhakat not make it to the medal stages of any World Cup stages in the individual category but the Kolkata archer has come close to winning medals in the team events. Bhakat talked about how she would miss the inner ten target, shooting towards the 3 o’clock position and how coach Kim Hyung Tak has made her change her technique.

“I was shooting towards the 3 o’clock position and the arrows would fly towards the right side. Coach Kim would make my draw of the bow a bit smaller. So it took time to adjust to that. What Kim changed, I would replicate with coaches back home. Patience was important in this phase and listening to Hindi devotional songs also kept my mental state good,” said Bhakat.

At Bangladesh during the Archery Asian Championships, Bhakat would first come back trailing 0-4 to win by 6-4 against Tokyo Olympics team gold medalist Jang Min Hee in the quarters before scoring a win over compatriot Deepika Kumari followed by a 7-3 win over Paris Olympics team gold and individual silver medalist Su-hyeon. Coach Purnima Mahato talked about how changing her technique has made Ankita a patient archer and how it will benefit her in 2026.

Indian archer Ankita Bhakat won a gold at the Asian Championships. (PHOTO: World Archery media)

“For an archer like Ankita, who shoots with a poundage of 44, it takes time to change technique and find control,” said Mahato. “In the coming year, focus will be to master the new technique as sometimes, Ankita slips to the old technique in one out of 7-8 shots. It needs patience but if she can achieve perfection in the new technique that will also be the key to get good scores in the Asian Games trials,” said Mahato.

Ankita’s 2026 aim: To go above her best-ever shooting average of 9.11 in 2021. One that can happen if she nails her new technique down. “Yes, sometimes I am making mistakes in this new technique but then with the kind of poundage I shoot with, I have the belief that I can get the timings of my shots to be a bit quicker too. To win an individual Asian Games medal will be the target next year,” says Bhakat.