The list of fourth-place finish for India gets longer.

If shooter Arjun Babuta fell to the curse of fourth on Monday, on Friday it was the turn of archers Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat.

The duo lost 6-2 to the American combination of world No. 1 Casey Kaufhold and three-time Olympic medallist Brady Ellison in the bronze medal playoff of the mixed event at the Invalides.

“It hurts, but we gained valuable experience from this one. It will give us confidence for the future,” Dhiraj said at the mixed zone.

India have a host of fourth finishers in individual events at the Olympic Games. Milkha Singh, PT Usha (both athletics), Joydeep Karmakar (shooting), Dipa Karmakar (gymnastics) and Aditi Ashok (golf) are the prominent names who have missed out on a medal at the Games. In the team event, football in 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the women’s hockey team in Tokyo three years ago have also fallen to the “curse”.

Dhiraj, just 22, and the 26-year-old Ankita, the Calcutta girl who represents Jharkhand, were the first among Indian archers to play in a bronze medal playoff at the Olympic Games.

They do deserve all the credit for the performance they dished out at the sun-baked archery arena.

“I started to feel the pressure as we advanced to the medal round,” the soft-spoken Ankita, who had two 7s, said at the mixed zone even asher voice got drowned out in the rousing cheers for the eventual goal medal winners, South Korea.

Dhiraj immediately defended his senior teammate. “When we play, we playas one.”

In the women’s team event last Sunday, Ankita’s performance — she had the ignominy of hitting in thefour-ring — had fuelled an uproar among the Indian fans. But with this show, albeit fourth, Ankita has silenced her detractors.

“A medal would have been a different feeling,” Ankita rued.

In the semi-final, India lost to the Koreans. Before that, the duo got the better ofSpain (quarter-finals) and Indonesia (last 16).