In archery, Dhiraj Bommadevara won the country’s first archery quota for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Dhiraj Bommadevara obtained the quota in the men’s recurve event by winning a silver medal at the Asian Continental Qualifier Tournament 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday.
Dhiraj 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.
India to the @Olympics 🇮🇳💥🇮🇳💥🇮🇳
Diraj Bommadevara secures first @Paris2024 quota place for his country after an absolute win in Bangkok. #ArcheryAsia #ArcheryInParis #archery @india_archery pic.twitter.com/hliEUp3H6N— World Archery (@worldarchery) November 11, 2023
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.
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.