Chikitha, Jyothi lead compound archers sweep of team gold medals at the Asian Games

Indian compound archers had a field day on Wednesday as they swept all three compound archery gold medals on offer in team events at the Asian Games 2026 on Wednesday, with Telangana archer Chikitha Taniparthi and Maharashtra’s Sahil Jadhav also securing a quota for the LA 2028 Olympics.

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Chikitha and Sahil defeated the Republic of Korea’s Park Jungyoon and Choi Yonghee in a shoot-off after the gold-medal contest finished level at 157-157.

Both Indian archers struck 10s in the shoot-off, while Park Jungyoon opened with a 10 before Choi Yonghee scored nine as India prevailed 20-19 at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Aichi.

India’s compound archers Chikitha Taniparthi, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Prithika Pradeep

The victory secured a quota for India in compound mixed team archery at Los Angeles 2028 with the event set for its Olympic debut at the upcoming edition.

As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at the LA Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at LA28.

Earlier, Chikitha and Sahil beat Thailand’s Kanoknapus Kaewchomphu and Peerawat Rattanapongkiat 156-155 in the semifinals.

Indian women trio equal world record

The triumph was Chikitha’s second gold medal of the day after she combined with Andhra Pradesh archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Prithika Pradeep to successfully defend India’s women’s compound team title.

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The Indian trio beat the People’s Republic of China 238-234 in the Asian Games 2026 archery final, equalling the world record for a 24-arrow women’s compound team match.

Flawless Jyothi bags fourth Asian Games gold medal

Jyothi and Prithika were flawless in the final, hitting 10s with all eight of their arrows, as India finished just two points short of the maximum possible score of 240.

India had earlier edged South Korea 234-233 in a closely contested semifinal. The women’s team victory also handed Jyothi Surekha her fourth Asian Games gold medal. She had won the women’s individual, women’s team and mixed team titles at Hangzhou 2023.

Men make it a clean sweep in compound team events

India completed the day’s clean sweep when Sahil, Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru and Kushal Dalal beat China 238-237 in a thrilling men’s team final.

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After two nines left India trailing 60-58 following the opening end, the Indian trio produced a perfect 180 from their remaining 18 arrows.

Sahil was flawless throughout the final, scoring 10 with each of his eight arrows. China led 179-178 going into the final end but an eight proved costly as India finished with six successive 10s to snatch the title by one point.

Sahil Jadhav, Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru and Kushal Dalal beat China 238-237 in a thrilling men’s team final. Pics: X

India had beaten South Korea 236-229 in the semifinals to reach the gold-medal contest.

Chikitha and Sahil bag two gold each

The results gave both Chikitha and Sahil two gold medals each on Wednesday and meant India successfully defended three of the five compound archery titles it swept at Hangzhou 2023. The men’s and women’s individual medals will be decided later.

Chikitha comes from a farming family in Telangana. She was introduced to the sport by her father, who encouraged her to take up archery after reading about the sport in a newspaper. She began her journey in 2018 and turned archery into a passion.

In 2021, Chikitha began pursuing archery professionally, marking an important phase in her development as a competitive archer. She made her international breakthrough in 2025 and subsequently emerged as an important member of India’s compound archery squad. Her most significant achievement came at the 2025 World Archery Youth Championships in Winnipeg where she won the Under-21 women’s individual gold medal and became the first Indian woman to win the title in the history of the event.