Analysis of India's performance in Archery at the Paris Olympics 2024 ft. Tarundeep Rai
For the first time since the 2012 London Olympics, India fielded a full squad of six athletes for archery at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The Indian archers competed in the men's team and individual, women's team and individual, and mixed team archery medal categories.
Both former world champion Deepika Kumari and veteran Tarundeep Rai made their fourth Olympic participation in archery in Paris. Let's take a look at the analysis of Indian archers in the sport.
Men’s Individual
India fielded three archers in the men’s individual recurve event of archery. Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav were the three male archers representing India.
However, none of them crossed the Round of 32 mark. Dhiraj, the top-seeded archer from India (fourth), proceeded to the round of 32 but lost 6-5 to Canada’s Eric Peters. Tarundeep and Praveen, on the other hand, lost their first matches and were knocked out.
Women’s Individual
India had high hopes from the women’s individual archery event, with Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, and Deepika Kumari participating.
Deepika, former World number one and a four-time Olympian, did well till the quarters. She lost 6-4 to Nam Suhyeon of South Korea.
Bhajan put up a great show as well and was doing great in the Round of 16, where she lost to Diananda Choirunisa of Indonesia in a close call of 6-5.
Ankita Bhakat lost her very first match to Wioleta Myszor of Poland to crash out of the event.
Men’s Team
The Indian men’s archery team, comprising Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav, lost to Turkiye 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
India, the third seed, was on the back foot from the start, losing the first set 57-53 against the sixth-seeded Turkish trio of Mete Gazoz, Berkim Tumer and Abdullah Yildirmis. This was one of the best teams India had sent to the Olympics, with a great ranking on their backs. But they failed to win the medal.
Women’s Team
The Indian women’s archery team, comprising Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur and Deepika Kumari, too had a similar fate as their male colleagues as they lost to the Netherlands 6-0 in the quarter-finals.
Being the fourth seed, India need not appear in the rounds of 64 and 32. Similar to the men’s team, they got a bye for the Round of 16 as well and so the quarter-finals was the first match they had to play in this event. However, they could not keep up with the Dutch archers as their opponents took all three sets one after another and sealed the match without giving the Indian archers a chance.
Mixed Team
This year, the mixed team competition in archery was added to the Olympic schedule. The top men's and top women's scores from the ranking rounds were added to determine the team's seeding for each nation fielding at least one men's and one women's archer.
Indian archers managed to register their best result at the Summer Games even if they were unable to take home the coveted medal.
Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat, representing India in archery at the Olympics, advanced to the mixed team semifinals. The pair finished fourth at the Games, their best finish ever. They also lost the bronze medal match that followed in the semis.