Dhiraj Bommadevara’s narrow miss at Paris 2024 glory
In a dramatic turn of events at the Paris Olympics 2024, India’s most promising archer Dhiraj Bommadevara was eliminated from the individual archery competition despite hitting a ’10’ – the best possible score – with his final shoot-off arrow. The 22-year-old faced Canada’s Eric Peters in the second round, with the match tied at 5-5 after five sets. This triggered a single arrow shoot-off to decide the winner.
Both archers rose to the challenge in the shoot-off, hitting the highest score of 10. However, as per recurve archery rules, if both arrows score the same, the one closest to the centre of the target wins. While Bommadevara’s arrow also hit a 10, it was approximately 2.4cm further than Peters’ arrow. Despite his perfect shot, the narrow margin cost Bommadevara a spot in the next round.
The Indian archer had been in red-hot form prior to the shoot-off, hitting an impressive six consecutive 10s at one point. His opponent Peters also showed nerves of steel to force the match into a decider by matching Bommadevara’s streak of perfect scores. Unfortunately for India, centimeters decided the outcome on the day, eliminating their top medal prospect from the Olympics. The narrow manner of his exit will certainly sting for the talented Bommadevara, who came so close to creating history despite achieving the maximum possible score.
