India secure Olympic team quotas in archery; Deepika, Tarun set for 4th Games appearances

PTI

New Delhi, June 24

India secured men's and women's team quotas in archery for this year's Paris Olympics based on the World Archery rankings that was updated on Monday.

India topped the rankings among the non-qualified nations in both men's and women's section to seal their team quotas.

India will, thus, be eligible to compete in all the five medal events in Paris -- men's and women's team, individual and mixed categories.

In the men's section, India and China made the cut, while in the women's section Indonesia were the second nation to secure the team Olympic quota.

The team events will have 12 sides in each section, while five teams will compete in the mixed competitions. For the first time, team quotas are offered to the top-two nations after the three-leg Olympic qualifiers.

The first Olympic Qualifier was held during the World Archery Championships in Berlin last year from where South Korea, Turkey and Japan qualified in men's category; while Germany and Mexico secured their spots in women's division.

The second leg was a continental qualifier.

Kazakhstan and South Korea took the men's and women's team quotas respectively from the Asian leg, while Colombia and the United States made the cut from Pan-America.

From the European leg, Italy (men) and the Netherlands (women) secured quotas. The final Olympic Qualifier was held in Antalya last week.

Mexico, Chinese Taipei, Great Britain in men's section; China, Malaysia, Great Britain and Chinese Taipei from the women's section secured quotas from the Final Qualifier.

Tarun, Deepika hit a four

Forty-year-old Army veteran Tarundeep Rai, who made his Olympic debut at Athens 2004, will make his fourth Games appearance.

The same is for former world No. 1 Deepika Kumari who will compete in her fourth Olympics on the trot, having made her maiden Games appearance in London 2012.

Dhiraj Bommadevara, Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur will make their Olympic debuts, while for Pravin Jadhav it will be his second successive Games after Tokyo.

India squad:

Men: Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Pravin Jadhav.

Women: Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur and Ankita Bhakat.