Tarundeep Rai (born 22 February 1984)[1] is an Indianarcher from Sikkim.[2][3] He was awarded thePadma Shri in 2021 by the Government of India for his contribution to sports. He is a three time Olympian.
Rai was born inNamchi,Sikkim, India. He is supported by a sports NGO, Olympic Gold Quest.[2]
Rai made his international debut in 2003 at the age of 19 years at the Asian Archery Championship 2003 held atYangon, Myanmar.[4] He won India's maiden individual silver medal at the16th Asian Games on 24 November 2010 inGuangzhou, China.[5][6]
Earlier, he was also a member of the Indian team that won a bronze medal at the15th Asian Games inDoha in 2006.[4]
He became an Olympian taking part in the2004 Summer Olympics, where he was placed 32nd in the men's individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 647.[4] He facedAlexandros Karageorgiou ofGreece 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.
He was out of action for two years in 2007 and 2008 due to a career-threatening shoulder injury.[7] He won a silver medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games in the individual event.[8]
Rai was part of Indian men's recurve team at the2012 London Olympics.[9] after India took third place in the qualification round at Ogden, US in 2012.[10]
He was a part of the Indian archery team that finished 4th at the 2003 World Championship inNew York City.[4] His was also part of the Indian team that won silver medal at the 2005 World Championship inMadrid,Spain. 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.[4]
He won three gold medals at South Asian Games in Guwahati and Shillong.[11]
Rai along withAtanu Das andPraveen Jadhav won a quota place and took part in Tokyo Olympics.[12] Due to lockdown, he trained at ASI campus.[13][14] He reduced 14 kg in six months.[15][16] 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 defeatedOleksii Hunbin of Ukraine 6-4 in the 1st round but lost toItay Shanny of Israel in Round 2 in a one arrow shoot-off.
Rai was selected to take part in the2024 Summer Olympic Games at Paris in both individual and team events.[17] He lost toTom Hall ofEngland in 1/32 eliminations in the individual match.
