From Mother's Pawned Jewelry to Double Gold Win: Dhiraj Bommadevara's Emotional Rise to Archery World Cup Glory

Key Points

SCRIPTING ONE OF THE FINEST DAYS in the history of Indian Archery, Dhiraj Bommadevara has achieved a remarkable feat at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 held in Antalya, Turkiye, clinching two gold medal trophies at the tournament. Hours after he won the recurve mixed-team gold medal paired with Indian archer Kumkum Mohod, Dhiraj added another accolade to his collection by winning his maiden individual Archery World Cup gold.

This achievement of Dhiraj holds a special significance, as two years back during the Paris Olympics 2024, the archer headed to his hometown of Vijayawada in sorrow after losing in both the mixed team and men’s individual archery tournaments. 

After his dual win on Sunday, June 14, 2026, Dhiraj emotionally recalled the sacrifices his parents had to make just so he could afford his dreams. “There was a time when I almost quit archery due to financial constraints; my mother supported my dreams then. I dedicate these titles to my parents,” a tearful Dhiraj told reporters.

Dhiraj’s mother, Revathi, had to sell her mangalsutra and other gold jewelry of hers so as to buy a second-hand archery bow for him. In addition, to support his son’s dream of becoming an archer, Dhiraj’s father Shrawan took up the job of being an archery judge to support and coach him.

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Recalling the moment, Revathi remarked how her son’s archery bow had cost a fortune back in 2016 when she purchased it. However, she remarked how Dhiraj’s dual win in Turkiye has made everything worth it. “The bow cost Rs 56,000 in 2016. But the gold medals our son has won in Turkiye today are worth more than the ornaments we sold,” she said.

Dhiraj’s Early Life and Family Struggles 

Even though Dhiraj hails from Andhra Pradesh, he was born in Sikkim in 2001 when his father, Shrawan, was working with Sikkim Legislative Assembly’s Speaker Kalawati Subba. After his birth, the family moved to their native Royyuru Village, located near Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.

Coming back to their native roots posed a bit of a challenge for Dhiraj’s parents, as they couldn't find stable employment opportunities and struggled to settle down. Shrawan and Revathi then opened a small school, Marigold School, near Krishna Lanka region in 2005-06.

“All private schools were charging Rs 50,000 to 1 lakh in donations so we thought of having our own school and took it up as a challenge,”  Dhiraj’s parents remarked.

Being a small local school, Marigold School had a handful of students in its initial year, 15 including Dhiraj himself. Rs 25 fees was charged from the students. However, the school couldn't sustain itself for long and was shut down. At the same time, Dhiraj’s interest in archery was taking shape. In spite of the financial hardships, both Revathi and Shrawan continued to support his sporting ambition while facing ridicule from relatives and close associates.

“Right from the age of six, he was fascinated by the sport. But we were struggling financially after the school we were running in Vijayawada was shut down. There were days when relatives and friends would call us ‘pagal’ (mad) for continuing with this sporting dream despite financial problems,” Dhiraj’s father remarked.

Years of trust and support in their son’s ambitions has finally yielded results, as now Dhiraj has become only the third Indian man to win individual recurve gold at the World Cup after defeating Lee Woo Seok of South Korea, following in the footsteps of Jayanta Talukdar and Atanu Das. Along with Kumkum Mohod, he also became the third Indian mixed team pair to claim the World Cup title after Atanu Das-Deepika Kumari (2021) and Tarundeep Rai-Ridhi Phor (2022).

Discovering a Passion for Archery at a Young Age 

Taking notice of his growing interest in archery, Dhiraj’s parents enrolled him in archery lessons at the IGMC Stadium in Vijayawada. Later, Dhiraj moved to the Cherukuri Volga Archery Academy and was coached under the tutelage of Cherukuri Satya Narayana and late Cherukuri Lenin. The duo were skillful in their competence, having mentored the silver-bagging Indian compound team at Commonwealth Games 2010.

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Praising Dhiraj’s skills, his coach Satya Narayan recalled his remarkable achievement at a young age. “He won a district under-13 championship at the age of eight. During the junior and sub-junior 50m targets, he would regularly shoot 325-335 out of 35 shots and would again tell me to give him the senior bow,” remembered the coach.

At 13, Dhiraj won the under-14 national title, in addition to a silver in nationals and a silver in the Asian Outdoor Championships in 2017. However, at this time when Dhiraj was at the height of his sporting career, his family had to face yet another financial hurdle. When his family couldn't afford imported sporting equipment that he needed to continue his training, Dhiraj was considering quitting the sport. However, his mother Revathi sold her mangalsutra to arrange the funds for the equipment. 

Both Dhiraj and his parents’ perseverance shone through. Shrawan undertook a 20-day course at the archery association of India (AAI) to be eligible as an AAI technical official and travel with his son, while Revathi joined the Cherukuri Volga Academy to support the family.

Things turned up for the family after a brief spell of despair. When Dhiraj got a job at the Army Sports Institute in Pune and some aid from the Olympic Gold Quest — a non-profit that assists potential Olympic and Paralympic medal talent from India — he purchased a house for his parents to live in 2022 and also replaced the jewelry his mother had to sell all those years ago.

Commenting on his dual win at the Archery World Cup Dhiraj concluded that “this is just the beginning.” “Really excited for this. But this is just the beginning. You will hear the Indian national anthem more often from here on,” he summed up.

[Edited by: Harsh Pandey]

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