India's Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav and Atanu Das booked three Olympic quotas in archery for Tokyo 2020 after entering the quarterfinals of the men's recurve team event by beating Canada in the second round at the World Archery Championships in Den Bosch, Netherlands on Wednesday.
India, ranked five places below the sixth-placed Canadian team of Eric Peters, Crispin Duenas and Brian Maxwell prevailed 5-3. India won the first set 2-0, 56-55 in terms of arrows. The Indians took the second set as well to go up 4-0, winning it 57-56 in arrows before Canada made it 4-2 by winning the third set 58-54. The fourth set was split 57-57 between the two teams, allowing India to hold on to their two-point lead.
The Indian men had earlier beaten Norway 5-1 in the first round, sharing set points in a 55-55 score for the first set before clinching the second and third sets outright.
The women's team of Bombayla Devi, Deepika Kumari and Komalika Bari, ranked sixth in the world, lost 6-2 against 11th-ranked Belarus, missing out on three more possible quota places of their own.
Both the men's and women's competition in Tokyo are open to 28 quota places each at the event in Den Bosch, with the eight quarterfinalists all assured of three athlete quota places each. The remaining four spots then go to the top four individual athletes from nations not qualified through the team event, with a single spot available from one country. There will be at least three more team places still available during the last quota tournament in Berlin next year, but the chances of qualification would be that much more difficult with fewer spots up for grabs.
The quarterfinals and semifinals for team recurve in both the men's and women's section are scheduled to take place on Thursday.