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Archery: Dhiraj blocks out negatives, locks in Paris Olympic quota


Turning up for his Olympic quota-defining day in Bangkok on Saturday, recurve archer Dhiraj Bommadevara had flashes of the Asian Games.

India’s Dhiraj Bommadevara competes against Kazakhstan’s Abdullin Ilfat in the quarterfinal match of men’s recurve individual archery event at the 19th Asian Games, in Hangzhou, China(PTI)

A little over a month ago in Hangzhou, Dhiraj was in the lead in the individual recurve quarter-final before a technical and mental failure saw his arrow misfire towards the outer edges of the board. With that happening not once but twice, he crashed out in among the most embarrassing of ways at a moment of heightened stakes.

As Dhiraj stood for his quarter-final and semi-final of the Asian Continental Qualifier Tournament (CQT) on Saturday with the weight of a 2024 Paris Olympics quota riding along, the 22-year-old was determined to not repeat his mistakes. “The Asian Games came in my mind again. But I managed to block it,” Dhiraj said.

Dhiraj also managed to book an Olympic quota for India, the first in archery, by entering the final of the Asian CQT. He lost there to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Zih-Siang 5-6 in a shoot-off (29-28, 27-29, 28-28, 30-28, 25-26 and 9-10), but by getting past Iranians Sadegh Ashrafi Bavili 6-0 in the quarters and Mohammad Hossein Golshani 6-0 in the semis, Dhiraj had ensured one spot for India in Paris.

The Asian Championships, which preceded this two-day individual qualifying event that had quotas for the finalists, also offered Paris berths. The Indian men’s recurve team lost the quarter-final to Kazakhstan by one point in it. That Indian archery did not return empty-handed in terms of quotas from Bangkok pleased Dhiraj the most.

“I’m extremely happy that I sealed this quota for the country,” Dhiraj said from Bangkok. “It was a long wait. We couldn’t get the quota at the World Championships, Asian Games and the Asian Championships. This was the last chance for qualifying this year, toh pura jaan laga diya (I gave it my all today).”

For the archer from Vijayawada who has been through several setbacks and toyed with the thought of moving to academics, the Asian Games experience — individual event aside, he was part of the silver-winning men’s recurve team — was another test of his mindset. From battling a sea of negativity in the aftermath of that to picking himself up and earning the quota in a month’s time, the turnaround has been quick.

“At that point, with what happened to me, I thought, ‘archery nahi khelunga (I’ll stop archery)’. It was a tough time for me, I was very stressed mentally. People’s comments hurt me, and they were also right that this shouldn’t have happened at such a big stage,” Dhiraj said.

“But coming back home, the archery family supported me — from the federation to coaches. They understood how this could have happened to anybody. That helped me bounce back soon. I thought, the worst is behind me.”

Dhiraj, who won an individual bronze at the World Cup Stage 1 in Antalya in April apart from three team medals, has been India’s most consistent recurve archer in an underwhelming year for the discipline. The only Indian recurve archer in the World Cup Final in Hermosillo, Mexico in September, Dhiraj had been eager to seal the Olympic quota this year.

“I’m satisfied with the consistency I’ve shown this year, but I was the happiest that I could deliver when it was most needed. Otherwise, being consistent would have been of little use,” he said.

Confident that the men’s team will also secure a ticket to Paris next year through its world ranking, Dhiraj will swing right back to training for the next couple of months.

“We’ll have our Olympic trials in January, and then the World Cups where we (team) will have to maintain our performances and ranking,” he said. “This quota is only the first step towards an Olympic medal. I hope a new journey for me begins now.”



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