Rahul Banerjee

Part of the Olympic-bound Indian team, 25-year-old Rahul Banerjee is one of the country's brightest medal prospects in the upcoming London Games in Recurve Men's Team (Archery) category. Banerjee will be heading to London along with teammates Tarundeep Rai and Jayanta Talukdar.

The Kolkata-born archer took up archery at a very early stage, inspired by his elder sister and one of India's top women archers Dola Banerjee. He made his first international appearance in 2004 Youth World Championship. The 2008-09 season proved to be a fruitful period for Rahul Banerjee as he won many gold medals at World Cup Archery during this time. He also climbed to his best FITA World ranking of 6 during this period.

Rahul Banerjee's medal record

2004: Bronze Medal - 2nd Archery Grand Prix Tournament, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Recurve Men's Individual).
2007: Gold Medal - Asian Championships, China (Recurve Men's Team).
2007: Silver Medal - 3rd Asian Grand Prix, Iran (Recurve Men's Individual).
2008: Silver Medal - Archery World Cup, Croatia (Recurve Men's Individual).
2008: Gold Medal - Archery World Cup, Turkey (Recurve Men's Team).
2008: Bronze Medal - Archery World Cup, Croatia (Recurve Men's Team).
2009: Silver Medal - Asian Championships, Indonesia (Recurve Men's Team).
2009: Gold Medal - 4th Asian Grand Prix Tournament, New Delhi ,India (Recurve Men's Team).
2009: Silver Medal - Archery World Cup, Turkey (Recurve Men's Team).
2009: Gold Medal - Archery World Cup, Croatia (Recurve Men's Team).
2009: Gold Medal - Recurve Men's Team , Archery World Cup, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
2010: Bronze Medal - Asian Games, Guangzhou, China (Recurve Men's Team).
2010: Gold Medal - Commonwealth Games, New Delhi, India (Recurve Men's Individual).
2010: Gold Medal - Archery World Cup, Shanghai, China (Recurve Men's Team).
2010: Gold Medal - Archery World Cup, Turkey (Recurve Men's Team).
2010: Gold Medal - 2nd Asian Grand Prix, Thailand (Recurve Men's Team).
2010: Gold Medal - 2nd Asian Grand Prix, Thailand (Recurve Men's Individual).
2011: Silver Medal - Archery World Cup, Croatia (Recurve Men's Team).

Consistent performance paid up for Rahul Banerjee in 2010 which proved to be a fabulous one for the archer. As a part of the Indian Recurve team, he won two gold medals and one silver medal in three archery World Cups. He was also instrumental in helping the Indian Recurve team win a bronze medal in the 2010 Asian Games. He added another feather in his cap when he won gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The Indian team won the silver medal at the 2011 World Cup which led India to the number one world ranking.

Finishing second in the Olympic qualifications in the United States by defeating the likes Australia, Canada and Norway, only goes to show that the current Indian Recurve team has the ability to win at big occasions. With the men's Recurve Team's qualifying for the Olympics and women's team already qualified, it will only be the second time after Athens Olympics in 2004 that India will have team representation in both the men's and women's events.

INDIAN RECORD AT OLYMPICS

2008 BEIJING

Men's: Mangal Singh Champia - Lost in 2nd round Women's: Dola Banerjee - Lost in 1st round; Bombayala Devi - Lost in 1st round; V Pranitha - Lost in 2nd round. Team event: Banerjee, Devi and Pranitha - Lost in quarterfinals.

2004 ATHENS

Men's: Satyadev Prasad - 11th place; Tarundeep Rai - 43rd place; Majhi Sawaiyan - 59th place Women's: Reena Kumari - 15th place; Sumangala - 24th place; Dola Banerjee - 52nd place Team event: Prasad, Rai and Sawaiyan - 11th place Banerjee, Kumari and Sumangala - 8th place

1996 ATLANTA

Men's: Lalremsanga Chhangte - 25th place; Skalzang Dorje - 47th place; Limba Ram - 63rd place Team event: Chhangte, Dorje and Ram -14th place

1992 BARCELONA

Men's: Limba Ram - 10th place (Missed the bronze medal by just one point in the 70m category); Lalremsanga Chhangte - 53rd place; Dhulchand Damor - 66th place Men's team: Ram Chhangte and Damor -16th place

1988 SEOUL

Men's: Sanjeeva Singh - 36th place; Limba Ram - 39th place; Shyam Lal - 71st place Men's team: Singh, Ram and Lal - 20th place