Olympics 2024: Dhiraj gets 4th-seed, men's archery team reaches quarter

Indian men's archery team secured its place in the quarter-final and Dhiraj Bommadevara secured the fourth seed in the men's archery ranking round at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday.

Among the three Indian archers, Dhiraj was the highest-placed Indian followed by Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav.

The trio shot a total of 2013 to clinch the third rank and booked a place in the quarterfinals.

Dhiraj, with 681 points was the highest-placed Indian followed by Tarundeep Rai, who finished 14th with 674 points, and Pravin Jadhav, who ended way down the order at 39th at 658 points.

Dhiraj put on an exceptional show to come back after a poor start and secure the fourth seed.

Starting the round with a score of 57 and 11th rank, Dhiraj slipped to 33rd rank after three rounds. He made a solid comeback after the sixth round to score 58 and move up to the 10th rank.

By the ninth round, Dhiraj had entered the top ten and continued his run to enter the top five and finish in the fourth position overall with a score of 681.

Tarundeep Rai could have finished in the top ten but shot poorly in the last couple of ends to take the 14th spot. Pravin Jadhav was the most disappointing with a poor score of 658 and 39th rank.

Propelled by Dhiraj's good show, the Indian men's team has secured the third seed and likely avoided the threat of Korea till the final. They will face the winner of the pre-quarters between Turkiye and Colombia.

In the mixed team, Dhiraj will pair up with Ankita Bhakat and they will be seeded fifth. The team is likely to face China in the quarters and Korea in the semis finals.

It was overall a good day for the Indian archery contingent with some solid performances in the team event and couple of brilliant individual performances from Dhiraj and Ankita.