Top 3 moments in Indian archery at the Olympics

Indian archers have always been at the forefront of the global archery scene. Over the years, they have gone on to accumulate countless medals at the World Championships, World Cups, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games.

Despite their commendable and rather consistent performances in international competitions, an Olympic medal has eluded them. As India prepares to send a full team to the Paris Olympics 2024, let us look back at some of the finest moments by Indian archers at the Olympic Games.

#3 Mixed team event - 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Pravin Jadhav in action in the mixed team event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics: Day 1 - Source: Getty

The mixed team event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics marked a significant milestone for Indian archery. The pairing of Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav showed great promise, advancing to the quarterfinals and finishing sixth overall.

India started off their proceedings by placing ninth in the ranking round. They then took on Chinese Taipei's Tang Chih-chun and Lin Chia-en in their opening knockout match. The Indian duo edged past their counterparts from Chinese Taipei with a score of 5-3 to book their place in the last eight. The scores for each set of the match were 35-36, 38-38, 40-35, and 37-36.

In the quarterfinals, Kumari and Jadhav took on the top-ranked South Korean pair of Kim Je-deok and An San. Despite putting up a strong fight, the Indian pair went down to the eventual gold medalists 2-6. The final scores of each set were 32-35, 37-38, 38-35, and 33-36.

India finished sixth overall and their performance remains one of the country's best in the mixed team event at the Olympic Games.

#2 Men’s team – 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Atanu Das in action in the men's team event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics: Day 3 - Source: Getty

The men's archery team consisting of Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav, and Tarundeep Rai delivered an extremely noteworthy performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Although they did not secure a podium finish, their quarterfinal finish was a huge step forward in India’s bid for a medal in archery at the Olympics.

After finishing ninth in the ranking rounds, the team began their campaign against Kazakhstan, winning 6-2 with scores of 55-54, 52-51, 57-56, and 55-54 to enter the quarterfinals.

In the last eight, similar to India’s mixed team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the men’s team faced the top-seeded South Korean team. The South Koreans defeated India 6-0 with scores of 59-54, 59-57, and 56-54 and eventually won the gold in the event.

Despite the 6-0 against the South Koreans, the men's team's quarterfinal appearance was India's best performance in the event at the Olympics.

#1 Women’s individual – 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Deepika Kumari in action at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics: Day 1 - Source: Getty

Deepika Kumari is undoubtedly one of the finest archers to ever grace the sport. The young girl from Ram Chatti near Ranchi, Jharkhand, has represented India in three Olympics and is gearing up for her fourth appearance at the games.

She also has a collection of medals from the World Cups, Asian Championships, Commonwealth Games, World Championships, and Asian Games.

While she entered the 2012 London Olympics as the world No. 1, Deepika faced an unexpected setback due to illness and was eliminated in the first round. She also faced an early exit from the Rio 2016 Olympics.

However, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Deepika went on to produce her best-ever performance in the women's category, making it to the last eight and winning several extremely close encounters on the way to the quarterfinals.

She began her campaign against Bhutan’s Karma, winning 6-0 (26-23, 26-23, 27-24) to advance to the round of 32. She then defeated USA’s Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez 6-4 (25-26, 28-25, 27-25, 24-25, 26-25) to reach the pre-quarterfinals. In the pre-quarterfinals, Deepika triumphed over Ksenia Perova of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 6-5 (10-7) (28-25, 26-27, 28-27, 26-26, 25-27) to make it to the last eight.

However, her incredible run came to an end when she was defeated by South Korea’s An San with a score of 6-0 (27-30, 24-26, 24-26). An San eventually won gold. Despite the loss, Deepika's individual performance at Tokyo remains one of the most outstanding achievements by an Indian archer at the Olympics.