Tarundeep Rai

Tarundeep Rai is an Indian archer born on 22nd February 1984. He hails from the Namchi district of Sikkim. Tarundeep represents India internationally in Recurve archery discipline. He currently ranks 31 in the world archery ranking.

Tarundeep Rai- Early Life, Family & Background

Tarundeep Rai comes from the north-eastern state of Sikkim. He belongs to the Kirati community residing in the state.

Tarundeep is one of the well-known sports personalities in Sikkim. The interesting fact is that Indian football legend and former captain Baichung Bhutia is his cousin. Tarundeep Rai took up an interest in archery when he was young and pursued the career seriously. Being Bhaichung’s cousin, he didn’t use his fame or popularity to make a name for himself.

Tarundeep currently serves in the Indian Army. He is married to Anjana Bhattarai and has a son. Apart from being a professional archer, he loves to spend time listening to music, watching movies, and driving.

Tarundeep Rai- Biography

Tarundeep Rai’s archery career took off from the nascent stage. Early on, he competed and won medals in national-level competitions. This gave him a breakthrough in his career before paving his way into the international scene.

In 2004, Tarundeep clinched his first international Gold medal in Recurve men’s individual at the Asian Grand Prix in Bangkok, Thailand. A year later, he won the Bronze medal at the 3rd Asian Archery Grand Prix Tournament in Jakarta in Indonesia.

In 2009, he won the Gold and Silver in Recurve team and Recurve men’s individual respectively at the 2nd Asian Grand Prix Tournament held at Tehran in Iran. In that year, he clinched two Gold medals in Recurve Individual and Recurve team at the 5th Asian Archery Grand Prix Tournament in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The following year, he won the Gold medal with this Recurve men’s team at the Asian Grand Prix held in Bangkok in Thailand

Tarundeep Rai- Achievements

Tarundeep Rai made his international debut in 2003 when he took part in Recurve men's individual at the Asian Archery Championships. In the same year, he took part in the World Archery Championships but finished 4th in the final of Recurve men's team.

In 2005, Tarundeep won the Bronze medal in Recurve men's team at the Asian Archery Championships held in New Delhi. Later that year, he won the Silver medal in Recurve men's team at the World Archery Championships in Madrid, Spain. In 2006, Tarundeep was a fellow member of the Indian Recurve team that won the Bronze medal at the Asian Games held at Doha in Qatar.

At the 2010 Asian Games, he won the Silver medal in Recurve's men individual and became the first Indian archer to be Asian Games Silver medalist. That very year, he won his first medal in the Archery World Cup by clinching Gold in Recurve men's team in China, followed by a Silver medal in the same event at the Porec Archery World Cup in Croatia.

In 2012, he won the Silver Medal at the Antalya Archery World Cup in Turkey. In the same year, he competed in the 2012 London Olympics but failed to win any medals. At the 2019 Asian Archery Championships, he won the Bronze medal in Recurve men’s team event.

Tarundeep Rai and his Recurve team of Pravin Jadhav and Atanu Das qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after they clinched the Silver medal at the 2019 World Archery Championships Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.