Dhiraj Bommadevara impressed everyone as the 22-year-old finished fourth in the men's archery ranking round at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday. It was a tremendous effort from Dhiraj as he made a late surge in the rankings and guided India to the quarterfinals of the team event. Dhiraj ultimately ended with 681 points while his teammates - Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav - finished 14th and 39th respectively. Hailing from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, Dhiraj's journey has been filled with tremendous achievements and this was another feat for the youngster who has done well in the past couple of years.
Dhiraj's father Bommadevara Shravan Kumar used to be a technical official of the Archery Association of India. The youngster started training at the Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada in 2006 before joining the Indian Army in 2021after training at the Army Sports Institute in Pune for four years.
Ranked 15th in the world, Dhiraj booked his berth for the Paris Olympics 2024 in Bangkok and in the build-up to the competition, he clinched the bronze medal at the World Cup 2024 in Antalya, Turkey.
Dhiraj was part of the Indian men's team that went on to clinch the silver medal at the Asian Games 2023 along with Atanu Das and Tushar Shelke. They ended up losing the final against Republic of Korea.
Back in 2017, Dhiraj Bommadevara made his debut at the international level. However, he did wait a bit for his first success as he won the gold medal in the 2021 World Archer Youth Championships.
Earlier, the women's team secured a fourth-place finish in the ranking round to seal a spot in the quarterfinal stage at Les Invalides in Paris on Thursday. In the quarterfinals, India will face the winner of the last-16 stage match between hosts France and the Netherlands.
In the individual round, Ankita Bhakat bagged the 11th spot with a season-best score of 666 after 72 shots, including 30 tens and 9 Xs. She picked 54 points in the final end.
Bhajan Kaur scored 659 (25 10s and 6 Xs)to finish 22nd in the standings. Deepika Kumari, who is competing in her fourth Olympics, settled for 23rd place in the final standings with 658 points.
(With IANS inputs)