India wins two compound archery golds at Asian Games
India claimed two compound archery golds at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Wednesday. Chikitha Taniparthi and Sahil Jadhav beat Korea 158-157 in a shoot-off in the mixed team final, securing a 2028 Olympic quota place. Earlier, the women's team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha and Prithika Pradeep defeated China 238-234 to retain their title with a world record-equalling score. China took the mixed team bronze.
Source
ThePrint — India · read the original report ↗
Desk check · compared with the source
What the desk checked (4)
- Chikitha Taniparthi and Sahil Jadhav beat Korea 158-157 in a shoot-off to win compound mixed team gold and a 2028 Olympic quota. — Score, names and quota claim appear in the source, attributed to PTI news service; not independently verified.
- India's women's compound team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha and Prithika Pradeep beat China 238-234, equalling the world record. — Figures appear in source, which states the record was set by South Korea at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
- Jyothi Surekha Vennam lost in the individual pre-quarterfinals to 14-year-old Korean Kang Yeon-seo. — Stated in the source without separate attribution; age figure appears in source.
- China won mixed team bronze; South Korea won women's team bronze by beating Chinese Taipei. — Both results appear in the source text as reported.
Analysts’ view opinion
India's dominance in compound archery no longer looks like a one-off: both the titles won in Hangzhou were successfully defended in Nagoya. The women's team's 238-234 win over China, equalling the world record, is about as technically flawless as this event gets. The mixed final, decided in a shoot-off against Korea, was a test of nerve rather than skill — and it came with a 2028 Olympic quota attached.
- Chikitha Taniparthi and Sahil Jadhav saw a two-point cushion evaporate after the third end, and Sahil's closing bull's eye to force the shoot-off was a pure pressure-management moment.
- The women's trio led each end with perfect 10s — 60-58, 60-58 — and closed with six 10s in the final round, a marker of consistency under finals pressure.
- Equalling South Korea's record set at Incheon in 2014 puts India at the top of a discipline where raw scores are the benchmark.
- The team gold doubled as redemption for Jyothi Surekha Vennam after her pre-quarterfinal individual exit; she is the lone carryover from the Hangzhou gold-winning side.
- Chikitha featuring on the podium in both events, alongside a newer name in Prithika Pradeep, points to a fairly smooth generational handover.
What to watch — With the 2028 quota secured, watch whether this mixed pairing is kept together and how India closes the gap in the individual events against Korea's emerging young archers.
The story establishes team-event supremacy only; it does not detail how the individual-event shortfall will be addressed, the final archery medal tally, or the specifics of how the quota is allotted.
Deep dive
Research brief · 8 facts · 5 dates · exam-readyThe brief
Context
Compound archery is a non-Olympic discipline at present but features at the Asian Games, where India has been among the strongest nations. At the 2025 Asian Games in Nagoya, India defended both the compound mixed team and women's team titles it had won at Hangzhou. The mixed team gold also carried a quota place for the 2028 Olympics, where compound archery is set to be contested. The women's team matched a world record total that South Korea had held since the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
Key facts
- Chikitha Taniparthi and Sahil Jadhav beat Korea's Jungyoon Park and Choi Eun Gyu 158-157 in a shoot-off to win the compound mixed team gold at Nagoya on Wednesday, Sep 30.
- The mixed team gold secured India a 2028 Olympic quota place.
- India's women's compound team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep beat China's Wunier, Yue Wang and Fangyao Wei 238-234.
- The women's team score of 238 equalled the world record held by South Korea, set at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
- In the mixed team semifinal, Chikitha and Sahil beat Thailand 156-155.
- China's Fangyao F Wei and Jinyi Liu took the mixed team bronze; Korea's Park Jungyoon, Park Yerin and Kang Yeonseo beat Chinese Taipei for the women's team bronze.
- Jyothi Surekha Vennam lost her individual pre-quarterfinal to 14-year-old Korean Kang Yeon-seo, failing to defend her individual crown.
- India won five archery golds at the previous edition of the Games in Hangzhou, including the compound mixed team event.
Timeline
- 2014, Incheon Asian GamesSouth Korea set the compound women's team world record total of 238.
- Previous edition, HangzhouIndia won five archery golds, including compound mixed team and women's compound team titles.
- Nagoya, before the finalsJyothi Surekha Vennam lost her individual pre-quarterfinal to 14-year-old Kang Yeon-seo of Korea.
- Nagoya, Wednesday (Sep 30)India's women's compound team beat China 238-234 to retain gold with a world record-equalling score.
- Nagoya, Wednesday (Sep 30)Chikitha and Sahil beat Thailand 156-155 in the mixed team semifinal, then Korea 158-157 in a shoot-off for gold.
Who has a stake
- Chikitha Taniparthi — Won two golds in Nagoya — mixed team with Sahil Jadhav and women's team — despite two 9s in the mixed final.
- Sahil Jadhav — Hit the bull's eye to force the shoot-off and then a 10 in it, sealing the mixed team gold and Olympic quota.
- Jyothi Surekha Vennam — Part of the Hangzhou gold-winning team too; team gold was redemption after her individual pre-quarterfinal exit.
- Prithika Pradeep — Debut-level big-stage gold; said the team kept 'bucking each other up' after a bad nine.
- South Korea — Lost the mixed final by one point after a shoot-off and saw its world record equalled; took women's team bronze.
- China — Lost the women's team final 234-238 after two 9s in the last end; won mixed team bronze.
Why it matters
Compound archery, long a medal mine for India at the Asian Games, is now tied to Olympic ambition: the Nagoya mixed team gold delivered a 2028 Olympic quota place. The women's team's world record-equalling 238 signals that India can match South Korea, the sport's benchmark nation, at full strength.
UPSC angle
Prelims pointers
- 2025 Asian Games archery events reported from Nagoya, Japan.
- India's compound mixed team gold at Nagoya came with a 2028 Olympic quota place.
- Women's compound team world record total of 238 was set by South Korea at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and equalled by India at Nagoya.
- India's Nagoya compound women's team: Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi, Prithika Pradeep.
- India won five archery golds at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Mains framing
India's twin compound golds at Nagoya illustrate how targeted investment in a specific discipline can convert into consistent international returns: both titles won at Hangzhou were retained, the women's team equalled a world record standing since Incheon 2014, and the mixed pair's 158-157 shoot-off win over Korea earned a 2028 Olympic quota place. The margins, however, expose the fragility of elite scoring — Chikitha's two 9s nearly cost the mixed final, while China's two 9s in the last end lost it the women's title, showing that outcomes turn on single arrows and psychological composure, a point Prithika Pradeep underlined in describing how teammates kept each other focused. Jyothi Surekha Vennam's pre-quarterfinal individual loss to a 14-year-old Korean also signals rising competition and generational churn in Asia. The way forward, on the evidence of this source, lies in sustaining depth across both team and individual events and in preparing systematically for compound archery's Olympic opportunity in 2028, since team strength has not yet translated into individual dominance.
Key terms
- Compound archery
- Archery discipline using a cam-and-pulley bow; contested at the Asian Games, with a 2028 Olympic quota at stake per this event.
- Shoot-off
- Tie-breaker in archery where teams shoot additional arrows; India won the mixed final after both sides tied at 157.
- Olympic quota place
- A slot earned by a nation through a qualifying event, here for the 2028 Olympics via the mixed team gold.
- End
- A round of arrows in a match; India led the women's final 60-58, 60-58 and 178-176 across ends.
- Asian Games
- Continental multi-sport event; the reported edition is at Nagoya, the previous one at Hangzhou.
Practice questions
- Examine how India's performance in compound archery at the Asian Games reflects the outcomes of discipline-specific sporting investment. Illustrate with the Nagoya results.
- India retained both compound team titles at Nagoya but lost the women's individual crown. What does this contrast suggest about depth versus individual excellence in Indian archery?
- Discuss the significance of the 2028 Olympic quota place won through the compound mixed team event at Nagoya for India's Olympic preparation.
Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.