India’s journey at the Paris Olympics kicks off with archery, as all six archers from the country gear up for the ranking rounds at Les Invalides, Paris. This marks the first time since the Tokyo Olympics in 2012 that India has sent a full team of six archers to the Games, with both the men’s and women’s teams qualifying based on their rankings. Indian archers will compete in all five events: men’s and women’s individual, men’s and women’s team, and the mixed team events.
On the eve of the official opening ceremony, the archers will participate in the ranking rounds to determine their seedings for the competition. Deepika Kumari, a veteran with three previous Olympic appearances, will lead the women’s individual ranking round in the morning. The men’s individual ranking round will follow later in the day.
The ranking round is crucial as it establishes the seedings for the 128 archers competing. Each archer will shoot 72 arrows, with their final score over two halves determining their seeding. Individual seedings will be based solely on the individual archer’s score, while team seedings are calculated by the combined scores of the team members. The top four seeded teams in both the men’s and women’s events will advance directly to the quarter-finals, while teams seeded between 5 and 12 will compete in the Round of 16 for a place in the quarter-finals. For the mixed team event, only the top 16 pairs based on combined men’s and women’s scores will qualify.
India’s archery squad for the Paris Games includes men: Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai, and Pravin Jadhav, and women: Bhajan Kaur, Deepika Kumari, and Ankita Bhakat. The country has a mix of experience and youth, with Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai making their fourth Olympic appearance, while Pravin Jadhav returns for his second Games. Dhiraj Bommadevara, a promising young archer, will make his debut, joined by Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur.
Deepika Kumari, a former World No. 1, is expected to lead the nation’s hopes for a medal. She was seeded 9th in Tokyo but was defeated by South Korea’s gold medalist An San. Kumari, who recently won a silver at the World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai after a 16-month maternity break, aims to secure a top-10 seeding again in Paris.
Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur, both young and talented, will look to make a significant impact in the ranking round. They, along with Simranjeet Kaur, won a bronze medal at the Asian Games last year. Bhakat has shown consistent performance throughout the Olympic cycle, earning medals in team events at World Cups.
Dhiraj Bommadevara, who recently defeated Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Mauro Nespoh at the World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya, is another key figure to watch. Known for his calm demeanor, Bommadevara’s performance will be pivotal in the competition.
The men’s team event will be crucial, with the combination of Tarundeep Rai’s experience and Dhiraj Bommadevara’s emerging talent. In Tokyo, the male archers—Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav, and Tarundeep Rai—finished outside the top 30 in the ranking round and were seeded 9th but lost in the quarter-finals to South Korea.
The women’s individual ranking round is scheduled for 1 pm IST, and the men’s individual ranking round will take place at 5:45 pm IST. Live streaming of the archery events will be available on JioCinema, with Sports 18 providing live TV coverage. The final rounds of the archery competitions will be held from July 28 to August 4.
