India wins team quotas in archery at the Paris Olympics; Tarundeep Rai and Deepika Kumari will compete for the fourth time.
India last sent a six-person team to the Olympics, when they participated in all four events in London in 2012
India will field a full six-person archery squad for the first time in twelve years, allowing them to compete in all five events during the Paris Games.
This became feasible on June 24 when the Indian men and women achieved the team quotas according to the revised world rankings.
Participation in every Olympic archery event is guaranteed for teams that qualify.
India last sent a six-person team to the Olympics, when they participated in all four events in London in 2012. The mixed team competition made its debut in the most recent Tokyo Olympics.
India has never taken home a medal from the quadrennial archery spectacle.
China and India qualified for the men’s division, and Indonesia was the second country to meet the team quota in the women’s division.
Twelve teams will compete in each division of the team events, and five teams will compete in the mixed competitions.
The World Archery Championships in Berlin last year served as the first Olympic qualifying event. In the men’s division, South Korea, Turkey, and Japan made it through, while Germany and Mexico qualified in the women’s division.
There was a continental qualification in the second leg.
The men’s and women’s team quotas from the Asian leg went to Kazakhstan and South Korea, respectively, while the Pan-American teams qualified Colombia and the United States.
Italy’s men and the Netherlands’ women received quotas from the European leg.
Antalya, Turkey hosted the last Olympic qualifying event last week.
In the men’s division, Mexico, Chinese Taipei, and Great Britain; in the women’s division, quotas were obtained from the final qualifier by China, Malaysia, Great Britain, and Chinese Taipei.
Deepika and Tarun had a fella
The World Cup Stage 3 squad has been retained by the Archery Association of India (AAI), meaning that there won’t be any more Olympic trials. This means that Tarundeep Rai, 40, and former world No. 1 Deepika Kumari will be making their fourth Olympic participation.
Army veteran Rai, a silver medallist at the Asian Games, debuted at the Olympics in Athens in 2004.
Deepika, who returned to competition after giving birth to her baby in December 2022, will be competing in her fourth consecutive Olympics after making her debut in London 2012.
Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, and Dhiraj Bommadevara will be competing in their first Olympics, while Pravin Jadhav will be competing in his second straight Games following Tokyo.
“On July 9, the archery contingent will depart for Paris to acclimate. We want to succeed this time because we have pleasant recollections of Paris,” Sanjeeva Singh, an Indian high performance director, told PTI.
He identified India’s best chances for medals in the men’s team, mixed team, and individual events.
In the women’s and men’s team competitions, India took home two bronze medals in 2023 and one silver in 2022.
In addition, Deepika won a gold medal in the 2021 World Cup in Paris and a silver medal at the 2013 World Cup Final.
According to Singh, the members will currently go to the Army Sports Institute in Pune for a two-week training where they would simulate an Olympic setting, something they have done previously during the Tokyo Games.
The nine-day Paris Olympics archery contests at Invalides will begin on July 25 with the qualification round, and team medal events for the women’s and men’s divisions on July 28 and 29, respectively.
Start dates for individual rounds are July 30. August 2 is the date of the mixed team final; the men’s and women’s individual finals are scheduled for August 3 and August 4, respectively.
India squad
Men: Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Pravin Jadhav.
Women: Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur and Ankita Bhakat.
Coaches: Baek Woongki, Poornima Mahato and Sonam Tshering Bhutia.
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