How can the Indian women's archery team qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics?
The race to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has now reached its final stages. With the Tokyo Games just more than 30 days away, sportspersons from across the globe are giving one final push to somehow qualify for the world's biggest sporting event. As the clock ticks down, the final quota places for the Olympics in Archery will be up for grabs over this weekend, i.e. 19th June 2021 to 21st June 2021, in Paris before the start of the World Cup Stage 3. With more than 70 countries in contention for the 24 slots available, the competition is expected to be intense. Amongst the many who will look to book their slot at Tokyo will be the Indian Women's Recurve Archery Team comprising of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari. While the men's team and the veteran archer Deepika Kumari in the individual event have already made it to the Games, the women's team is yet to qualify, and the event at Paris will be their last shot at qualifying. The equation here is pretty simple. To qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, they will have to finish somewhere in the top three during the Women's qualification event on Sunday, i.e. 20th June 2021. If they fail to do so, then that will be the end of their Olympic dream even before the Olympics have started. Well, the chances of the Indian women recurve team qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics from Paris is pretty high. In fact, the team of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari is one of the strongest teams which will be in contention at Chartley Stadium. The team is a perfect blend of experience and youth and boasts of quite a good track record. Besides, the trio had also clinched the gold medal at the Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Guatemala a couple of months back. But, that does not mean it will be a walk in the park for the Indians by any means. They will have to ward off threats from the likes of Mexico, Georgia, Colombia and Spain  all of whom have impressive archers in their ranks. With a total of 28 women teams expected to be in contention when the event begins on Sunday, every single arrow will count. With no reserves allowed in the event, all the three archers in the team will have to be on the top of their game as even a single slip up and a bad score can mess up your chances of qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.