Paris setback keeps me pushing harder

Dhiraj Bommadevara is being sought after by fans and volunteers for selfies at the archery arena here.

- Avishek Roy

DEHRADUN: Dhiraj heeds to their requests with a smile after his match. The only other archer to garner such attention is Deepika Kumari. But Dhiraj, after his showing in Paris, is in a similar space.

At the biggest stage of the world, Dhiraj and Ankita Bhakat came close to winning India's first archery medal at the Olympics only to eventually finish a devastating fourth. The duo lost 2-6 to the USA in the mixed team bronze medal match. In the individual round, Dhiraj went down to Canada's Eric Peters in the second round by the tiniest of margins --he lost the shoot-off by the distance of arrows from the centre.