The Indian men’s archery team, comprising Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai, and Pravin Jadhav, will aim to end the country’s medal jinx in the quarterfinals of the men’s team event at the Paris Olympics on Monday.
Despite India’s impressive record in archery at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, where they have won 19 and eight medals respectively, including three Asiad golds and two CWG golds, an Olympic medal has remained elusive.
Dhiraj, Tarundeep and Pravin will face either Colombia or Turkey in the quarterfinals at 6:30 pm. The medal rounds are scheduled for later today.
In the ranking round, the Indian trio secured a third-place finish with 2013 points, ensuring direct qualification for the quarterfinals. South Korea topped the rankings with 2049 points, followed by France with 2025 points and China in fourth with 1998 points. All four teams advanced directly to the quarterfinals.
The women’s team, consisting of Bhajan Kaur, Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat also qualified directly for the quarterfinals by finishing fourth with 1983 points. South Korea led the rankings with 2046 points, followed by China with 1996 points and Mexico with 1986 points.
However, in the women’s team event, Deepika Kumari, one of India’s biggest Olympic medal hopes, and her teammates faced a disappointing defeat against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. The Dutch team dominated the match, winning with a decisive 6-0 scoreline.
The Indian women’s team, featuring Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, and Deepika Kumari, struggled to find their rhythm throughout the match. While Bhajan Kaur showed flashes of brilliance, Ankita Bhakat and Deepika Kumari were unable to maintain consistency. This marked Deepika Kumari’s fourth Olympic appearance, and despite her experience and previous world number one ranking, she could not advance beyond the quarterfinals.
With the individual events still to come, India remains hopeful for an Olympic medal in archery. A men’s team medal would also be a fitting tribute to 40-year-old veteran Tarundeep Rai, who has been a stalwart in the archery circuit since his debut at the 2004 Athens Olympics. His best Olympic performance to date was reaching the quarterfinals with the men’s recurve team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
