Asian Games: 'Bindaas maro' was the women's archery team's mantra

'Bindaas maro' (shoot fearlessly) was the mantra the underrated Indian women archers followed as they ended India's 13-year wait for a medal in the Olympic discipline recurve section by returning with a bronze at the Asian Games.

Seeded fifth, India defeated lower-ranked Japan 6-2 before going down to top-seeded South Korea 2-6 to get into the bronze playoff where they emerged 6-2 winners against Vietnam.

Indian recurve archers failed to win a medal in the last two edition of the Games and, this time too, all the focus in the Olympic section was on the men's team that had rising archer Dhiraj Bommadevara, who is on a career-high ranking of world No 15, double Olympian Atanu Das and Tushar Shelke.

"Nobody gave us a chance, so I told them (Ankita Bhakat, Simranjeet Kaur and Bhajan Kaur) 'bindaas maro' as if it's your practice match. We had nothing to lose," women's team coach Purnima Mahato told PTI from Hangzhou.

Before the Vietnamese could shoot their last three arrows, the bronze medal was sealed after 18-year-old Bhajan shot an 8, needing to shoot a seven.

But the Indians did not celebrate till the judges confirmed it.

"I was following their scores in the telescope, and it was an eight but I waited for the judges to confirm it.

"The Vietnam team had three sevens but all were on the edges, and a difference of one point would have given them the set and it would have been a shoot-off.

"Such things have happened previously when we celebrated prematurely and lost, so I chose not to scream and waited with bated breath," Mahato added.

As soon as the Indians were declared the winners, Mahato hurried to the shooting line, where she warmly embraced 18-year-old Bhajan and planted a congratulatory kiss on her cheek. Simranjeet and Ankita also joined in the celebration.

"Personally, it was an emotional moment for me, we have seen many ups and downs and finally got a bronze. The credit purely goes to their hard work," said Mahato, who was also the coach when the Indian women's team of Dola Banerjee, Rimil Biruily and Deepika Kumari last won a medal, a bronze in Guangzhou 2010.

The trio had their moments against heavyweights South Korea that boasted of triple gold medallist from 2020 Tokyo An San, as they snatched a set from the top seeds by shooting three perfect 10s.

"Definitely, the credit goes to them (Indian trio) only. They did all the hard work for the last one year. They were always busy from morning 6.30 till late in the evening.

"They also had to go for rehab to manage their shoulder injuries. While Ankita is nursing the injury for more than one-and-a-half years, Simranjeet is carrying a niggle for one year now," Mahato said.

"They had to go slowly and give time to rehabs and also ensuring that it does not aggravate. Now the aim is only to get the Olympic quotas. Hope this will motivate them," Mahato said.

The women's team's inspiring show rubbed off on the men's team who went a step ahead to bag a silver after going down to the mighty South Koreans and confirm India's eight medals in archery.