Paris Olympics 2024: Who Is Bhajan Kaur? India’s Rising Star In Archery

Indian archery has found a rising star in Bhajan Kaur, who is set to make her Olympic debut at the Paris Olympics 2024 at just 18 years old. Born on August 25, 2005, in Sirsa, Haryana, Bhajan Kaur's interest in archery developed at a very young age, with her talent becoming evident early on. Her father, Bhagwan Singh, is a farmer, and it was in 2021 that Bhajan joined the prestigious Tata Archery Academy. This place allowed her to hone her skills and compete at higher levels.

You might not know but the Young star Bhajan has received substantial financial support to meet her training and competition needs. Through the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC), she received ₹83,71,451, and the government provided ₹8,96,400 for physiotherapy equipment for the national archery team. In June 2024, Bhajan secured her spot at the by winning a gold medal at the Archery Final Olympic Qualifier in Turkey.

Bhajan has been performing exceptionally well this season. She boasts an impressive average arrow score of 9.10, a notable improvement from her career average of 8.94. Currently ranked world number 45, she achieved her career-best ranking of 36 in June 2023. Her best qualification score this season is 662, slightly below her career-best of 668 from the previous year. In June 2024, Bhajan also won a bronze medal in mixed recurve archery at the Antalya 2024 Hyundai Archery World Cup Stage 3.

With her brilliant records and skills, Bhajan Kaur finished 22nd in the women's individual recurve archery ranking round at the Paris Olympic Games 2024 on Thursday (July 25). She was the second-ranked Indian women on display, behind Ankita Bhakat (11th) and just ahead of Deepika Kumari (23rd).

The Haryana-born girl came up with an aggregate score of 659 from her 72 arrows. Whereas, Korea's Lim Sihyeon ended on top with a six-point margin, smashing the world record with an astounding total of 694. After she achieved 22nd place in Archery at Paris Olympics 2024, she will face Indonasia's Nurafifah in the first round on July 30.