Tokyo Olympics: 5 most experienced Indian athletes going to the Games

#3 Tarundeep Rai (Archery)

Tarundeep Rai made his first appearance at the Olympis in 2004

Hailing from Sikkim, the recurve archer was only 19 when he featured at the 2003 Asian Archery Championships and made his Olympics debut a year later, in Athens.

But a lack of big stage experience meant he was ousted in the first round itself in the individual category, with a narrow defeat at the hands of Greek competitor Alexandros Karageorgiou. However, the men’s team finished in the 10th position overall.

Despite his achievements on the international stage, which included a silver at the 2005 world championships and a bronze at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, Tarundeep failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The 2012 London Games gave Tarundeep fresh hope as the archer once again qualified for the individual as well as team events. While he was eliminated in the round of 32 by South Korea’s Kim Bub-min in the individual category, Tarundeep, along with Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee, lost to Japan in the team event pre-quarterfinals.

Having qualified for the men's individual and team events again for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, it's likely to be his last opportunity to grab an Olympic medal.