Tarundeep RAI

In 2005, the Sikkimese archer helped the Indian men’s recurve team clinch a bronze medal at the Asian Archery Championships in New Delhi and then a silver at the World Championships in Madrid. He was conferred with the Arjuna Award in the same year.

Further success followed at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, where Tarundeep Rai, along with Jayanta Talukdar, Mangal Singh and Viswash led India to the bronze in the men’s recurve team event.

After a quiet 2007, a shoulder injury kept Tarundeep Rai on the sidelines for almost two years, forcing him to miss the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

He bounced back with a purpose in the second half of 2009, winning an individual recurve silver and the team gold at the Asian Grand Prix in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.

The year 2010 was a sensational one for Tarundeep Rai. He won the individual silver at the 2010 Asian Games, becoming the first Indian archer to win an individual medal at the competition.

The same year also saw Tarundeep Rai claim his maiden Archery World Cup by winning gold in the men's team event in China. A second quickly followed in the shape of a team silver at the Porec World Cup in Croatia.

Tarundeep Rai was chosen for London 2012 and finished 17th and 9th in the individual and team men’s recurve events, respectively. He, however, didn’t make the cut for Rio 2016.

After a few years in limbo, Tarundeep Rai, alongside Pravin Jadhav and Atanu Das won the men’s recurve team silver medal at the 2019 World Archery Championships in Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. It helped India win full quota allocation for men’s archers at the Tokyo Olympics.

He was given the Padma Shri - India's fourth-highest civilian award - in 2020.

At the Tokyo Olympics, India only made it to the quarter-finals of the men’s team recurve event while Tarundeep Rai could not make it beyond the 1/16 elimination round.

Tarundeep Rai won the mixed team gold medal at the 2022 Antalya World Cup with Ridhi Phor and a year later, combined with Dhiraj Bommadevara and Atanu Das to win a World Cup silver at the same venue.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Tarundeep Rai came 14th in the ranking round and lost to Great Britain’s Tom Hall 6-5 in the first elimination round of the individual events. The Indian men’s team had their run ended in the quarter-finals.

An army man, Tarundeep Rai is married to Anjana Bhattarai and the couple is blessed with a son named Nusam Singh Rai.