CHENNAI: It was a significant day for Indian archer Dhiraj Bommadevara.
The World No 15 became the first archer from the country to secure the Paris 2024 Olympics quota at the Asian Continental Qualifier Tournament 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. The recurve archer obtained the quota in the men's event and went on to pocket a silver medal. Senior pro Tarundeep Rai, who represented India in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was also in contention, but he lost to Chinese Taipei's Lin Zih-Siang in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, in the women's event, Ankita Bhakat, who finished second in qualifying, fell two wins short of booking the Paris quota.
"This (bagging quota) was something which we have been looking for the last six months, but we were barely missing every time," Sanjeeva Singh, High-Performance Director of Archery at the Sports Authority of India told this daily from Bangkok. "Now, we were able to get the first quota, but this is the beginning of the journey. We are sure of more qualifications. We are looking forward to that and we are preparing our teams. Our teams, men and women are learning where the mistakes are happening. So our team will be a formidable team," he added.
This was certainly not the last chance for the Indian contingent to get the Olympic quota. They can still secure the qualification via the Final Team Qualification Tournament (FTQT) that will be scheduled next year, where three teams per gender i.e. nine men and nine women overall can book their tickets for the Paris 2024. Currently ranked third in the men's team and ninth in the women's event according to the WA Archery Team World Ranking List (TWRL), India can still obtain the necessary quota after the FTQT as well. According to the qualification method, two team places will be allocated to the countries (or their National Olympics Committees) of the next highest-ranked teams, not yet qualified, according to the rankings after the FTQT.
Singh believes that will sort out the Indian archery team's entry to the Olympics, but at the same time, if the team wants to aim for podium finishes, they need to make the most of their opportunities and time till the FTQT and Olympics.
"Every competition teaches you something. Dhiraj also learned today (Saturday) that if you want to win the Olympic medal, one has to become very precise. It is not just by chance you will get this medal, you will have to work towards getting this medal. As a team, we need to learn from all the seven international tournaments in which we participated. Whenever we have won, we won because of our hard work and for the precise game, you need to enhance the technique," he added.
Speaking about the level Indian archers' need to achieve and where they stand, Singh gave a realistic picture of the situation and hoped that Bommadevara's success would inspire the others to work harder for the quotas. "Now, archers have to shoot at an average score of 9.7. That is the score that will win them a medal. Dhiraj is already touching a 9.5 to 9.6 score. It needs to move to 9.7. Others who are scoring at an average of 9.4 to 9.5, need to move to 9.7. So there is still room for improvement, things will change and it will be changing for the better," he signed off.