Paris Olympics: How India’s promising archer Dhiraj Bommadevara was eliminated even after hitting a 10

At the Olympics, sport can sometimes be cruel. India’s most promising archer Dhiraj Bommadevara was eliminated from the individual archery event even after hitting a 10 with his final arrow. This, despite the fact that in recurve archery, a 10 is the best score you can get from a single arrow.

Reason? The 22-year-old Dhiraj Bommadevara and his opponent in the second round, Canada’s Eric Peters, had tied with five points each after five sets.

This meant that the contest would be decided in a single arrow shootoff where both archers had one arrow to shoot.

The rule for a tie, decided by World Archery, the global governing body of the sport, states: “In individual shoot-offs, a single arrow shoot-off for score (is shot). If the score (by both archers) is the same, the arrow closest to the centre shall resolve the tie. If the distance is the same, successive single arrow shoot-offs will be held until the tie is resolved. The time limit for a shootoff shall be 40 seconds.”

But the catch in the recurve archery shootoffs is that even if both archers hit the ring with the same score, the arrow that is the closest to the centre of the target, wins.

Dhiraj Bommadevara shot a 10 with his shootoff arrow. But Peters also shot a 10.

However, Dhiraj Bommadevara’s 10 was 2.4 centimetres further from the centre of the target as compared to Peters’ arrow.

This meant, that despite hitting a 10 — the best score Dhiraj Bommadevara could have shot — he was eliminated while Peters progressed to the next round.

Dhiraj Bommadevara was in red-hot form in the match. At one point, he hit six consecutive arrows in the 10 ring. However, his Canadian opponent was also up to the task. Peters forced the clash into the shootoff by hitting six straight 10s as well, and then hitting his final arrow of the night in the shootoff also in the 10 ring.

In recurve archery, where athletes have to aim at a target from 70 metres away, it’s rare to get so many repeated shots in the 10 ring. So Dhiraj Bommadevara series of six straight 10s suggests he was in good form. But unfortunately, a distance of 2.4 centimetres cost him a shot in the next round.

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