Tarundeep Rai (born 22 February 1984) is an Indian archer from Sikkim. He was awarded the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

in 2021 by the Government of India for his contribution to sports. He is a three time Olympian.

Early life

Rai was born in Namchi,

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

, India. He is supported by a sports NGO, Olympic Gold Quest.

Career

Rai made his international debut in 2003 at the age of 19 years at the Asian Archery Championship 2003 held at Yangon, Myanmar. He won India's maiden individual silver medal at the 16th Asian Games on 24 November 2010 in

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, China. Earlier, he was also a member of the Indian team that won a bronze medal at the 15th Asian Games in

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in 2006. He became an Olympian taking part in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, where he was placed 32nd in the men's individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 647. He faced Alexandros Karageorgiou of

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

in the first elimination round and lost 147-143. His final rank was 43. He was also a member of the Indian men's archery team that was place 11th at the 2004 Olympics.

Injury

He was out of action for two years in 2007 and 2008 due to a career-threatening shoulder injury. He won a silver medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games in the individual event.

London Olympics

Rai was part of Indian men's recurve team at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. after India took third place in the qualification round at Ogden, US in 2012. He was a part of the Indian archery team that finished 4th at the 2003 World Championship in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. His was also part of the Indian team that won silver medal at the 2005 World Championship in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

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. He also became the first Indian to make it to the semifinal round of the World Archery Championship in 2005 where he narrowly lost to Won Jong Choi of South Korea by 106-112 for the bronze medal play-off. He won three gold medals at South Asian Games in Guwahati and Shillong.

Tokyo Olympics

Rai along with Atanu Das and Praveen Jadhav won a quota place and took part in Tokyo Olympics. Due to lockdown, he trained at ASI campus. He reduced 14 kg in six months. He was part of the Indian team that defeated Kazakhstan in round of 16 in the men's team event. Later, they lost to Republic of Korea in the quarterfinals. In the individual event, he defeated Oleksii Hunbin of Ukraine 6-4 in the 1st round but lost to Itay Shanny of Israel in Round 2 in a one arrow shoot-off.

Paris Olympics

Rai was selected to take part in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games at Paris in both individual and team events. He lost to

Tom Hall Tom Hall (born September 2, 1964) is an American video game designer best known for his work with id Software on titles such as '' Doom'', '' Wolfenstein 3D'' and ''Commander Keen''. He has also been the co-founder of Ion Storm, together wit ...

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in 1/32 eliminations in the individual match.

Awards

* He received Arjuna Award in 2005. * He received

in 2020. * In October 2023, ICFAI University in Sikkim conferred the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in recognition of his efforts in archery.

References

External links

*
Ready, Aim, Aspire...
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Tarundeep 1984 births Living people People from Namchi district Archers from Sikkim Indian Gorkhas Indian male archers Archers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic archers for India Archers at the 2006 Asian Games Archers at the 2010 Asian Games Archers at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Asian Games medalists in archery Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Archers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for India Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in archery Recipients of the Arjuna Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Rai people Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games