Dhiraj Bommadevara secures India’s first Paris 2024 Olympic quota in archery

India’s Dhiraj Bommadevara secured India’s first Paris 2024 Olympics quota in archery at the Asian Continental Qualifier Tournament 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday.

Dhiraj Bommadevara obtained the quota in the men’s recurve event and went on to win a silver medal at the tournament.

The Indian archer lost to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Zih-Siang 5-6 via shootoff in the gold medal match but an entry in the final had already sealed the Paris 2024 quota place for him.

The National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games and athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.

Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.

In the qualifying round Dhiraj Bommadevara, who was part of the Indian men’s recurve team which won a silver medal at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, topped the standings with 677 points - one more than compatriot Tarundeep Rai - to bag the top seeding.

After a first-round bye, Dhiraj Bommadevara blanked Turkmenistan's Ezizmuhammet Sahedov and Singapore’s Li Yue Long 6-0 in the second and third rounds, respectively, before ousting Iran’s Sadegh Ashrafi Bavili by a similar margin in the quarter-finals.

Another 6-0 win over Mohammadhossein Golshani Asl, also from Iran, in the semi-finals secured the quota. The finalists in the men’s and women’s competitions at the Asian Archery Continental Qualifier Tournament obtained quotas.

Olympian Tarundeep Rai fell two wins short of a quota after going down 6-0 to Zih-Siang, the eventual gold medal winner in the men’s recurve event. Pravin Jadhav’s challenge, meanwhile, was halted by Mohammadhossein Golshani Asl in the second round.

Meanwhile, three Indians - Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur and Tisha Punia - were in contention in the women’s event.

Ankita Bhakat, who finished second in qualifying, made it to the quarter-finals before losing to eventual silver medal-winner Ziyodakhon Abdusattorova of Uzbekistan, who was also responsible for knocking out Tisha Punia in the third round.

Bhajan Kaur was handed a bye in the first round but lost to Thailand’s Sataporn Artsalee in the second round.