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Indian archer Tarundeep Rai ended his Olympics 2021 campaign as he lost his men's individual 1/16 elimination match against Israel's Itay Shanny. In a tightly fought match, Tarundeep Rai and Itay Shanny had five points apiece after five sets, which pushed the match into a shoot-off.
In the shoot-off, Tarundeep Rai scored nine while Itay Shanny scored a ten, thus ending the Indians' chances of qualifying for the next round.
Tarundeep Rai was also part of India's men's team. The Indian men's team comprising of Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das and Pravin Jadhav lost 6-0 to South Korea in the quarterfinals.
With his journey at the Tokyo Games coming to an end, Tarundeep Rai is set to retire from the sport. He had planned to retire last year but he delayed it to participate in the Tokyo Olympics. Tarundeep Rai's final goal of his career was to win an Olympic medal, but that will now remain unfulfilled.
Tarundeep Rai, who turned 37 in February, is the cousin of former Indian football team skipper Baichung Bhutia. The archer hails from Sikkim and serves in the Indian Army.
Tarundeep Rai was spotted during an Army talent hunt initiative in the North East in 1990s. He participated in the National Championship at the age of 18 and then went on to win an international medal a year later.
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Tarundeep Rai's achivements and records
Tarundeep Rai holds the distinction of being the first individual archer to win a silver medal at the Asian Games. He achieved the feat at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010.
He had already won a bronze in the team event at the Doha Asian Games in 2006. Between his two medal-winning performances, Tarundeep Rai suffered an almost career-ending shoulder injury and had to lay low for 2007 and 2008. It was only towards the fag end of 2008, that Tarundeep Rai was fit to be back in action again.
Tarundeep Rai is a three-time Olympian. Before he won medals at the Asian Games, he had already represented India at the 2004 Athens Olympics. At the Athens Games he finished 43rd in the men's Indivial rankings and 11th in the men's team rankings.
The archer then had to wait eight years to appear in his second Olympics. He had to miss the Beijing Games because of the injury. But he made a comeback and qualified for the London Games. At the London Olympics Tarundeep Rai displayed a much-improved performance as he finished 17th in the men's Indivial rankings and 11th in the men's team rankings.
Tarundeep Rai failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics. However, he did not give up on his ambition and waited for nine years to make his third Olympic appearance. Unfortunately, his Olympic journey was a start-stop affair and ended with a medal.
Tarundeep Rai has won two silver medals at the World Archery Championships. Both medals were won in the men's team event. The first medal was won at the 2005 World Championships in Madrid and the second was clinched in the 2019 World Championships in Hertogenbosch.
The archer has also won two bronze medals with recurve's team at the 2005 and the 2019 Asian Archery Championships. In 2016, Tarundeep Rai won three gold medals at the South Asian Games.
Tarundeep Rai was honored with the Arjuna Award in 2005 and Padma Shri award in 2020.
