Asian Games 2026: Thrice and nice for India’s golden arrows

Indiarsquos compound archers displayed admirable poise under pressure to complete a golden sweep in the Asian Games team competitions successfully defending their crowns in menrsquos womenrsquos and mixed events here on WednesdayThe cherry on top was the mixed combination of Chikitha Taniparthi and Sahil Jadhav also securing an Olympic quota place for the country following their top finish India thus became the first country to qualify for the 2028 Olympics in the compound mixed team event which will mark the disciplinersquos debut in the Los Angeles GamesThe womenrsquos trio of Jyothi Surekha Vennam Chikitha and Prithika Pradeep kicked off the gold rush that culminated in the menrsquos combination of Kushal Dalal Sahil Jadhav and Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru rallying to outwit the Chinese trio of Jiahao Liao Jinyi Liu and Jingyu Shi in the finals 238237Compound menrsquos team archers Kushal Dalal left Sahil Jadhav centre and Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru with their gold medalsFor Chikitha and Sahil the day brought two gold medals as they had earlier shown nerves of steel to prevail over Korearsquos Jungyoon Park and Choi Eun Gyu in a thrilling mixed team final winning 158157 after a shootoff ldquoItrsquos awesome We were so confident when we were playing team matches I have trust on my teammates they have trust on me We will shoot our best in any conditionrdquo Sahil said after winning the menrsquos team goldThe Indian womenrsquos compound team produced a sensational show to outclass the Chinese trio of Wunier Yue Wang and Fangyao Wei 238234 and retain its gold with a world recordequalling scoreJyothi Chikitha and Prithika dominated the womenrsquos summit clash to secure the top spot on the podium Of these Jyothi was a part of the goldwinning womenrsquos team in Hangzhou as well ldquoWe pushed each other and kept telling each other that we have to give our best Even if we had one bad shot a nine score we kept bucking each other up and saying lsquoGet back to what you know best and keep focusing on thatrsquordquo said PrithikaPrithika Pradeep left Chikitha Taniparthi centre and Jyothi Surekha Vennam with their respective womenrsquos archery team gold medalsldquoI know itrsquos a big tournament but at the end of the day itrsquos the same people itrsquos the same archery that I have to shoot So I was just focusing on that to be honest But it feels really good to win gold with my teammatesrdquo she addedFrom karate to two archery golds Dadrsquos push to get Chikitha into sport pays offThe two gold medals that young compound archer Chikitha Taniparthi 21 collected in her Asian Games debut have not just announced her arrival on the big stage but also vindicated a choice that her sports tragic father made for her when she was a schoolgoing child more interested in pursuing karateldquoI didnrsquot get into archery on my own It was my fatherrsquos choice He wanted me to play sport because he couldnrsquot play any sport When I was small he used to take us to playgrounds Every day we used to play some gamesrdquo she recalledldquoIn school from 6th grade to 8th grade I was doing karate I got my first black belt alsordquo said the youngster Her first bow was a toy gifted by her uncle on Dussehra It intrigued her and she quite enjoyed playing with it shooting arrows on a target she created in her backyardldquoMy fatherrsquos younger brother bought a me a recurve bow We used to shoot just for fun at that timerdquo she recalled Once he realised that Chikitha had potential her father Srinvasa Rao took a loan to buy her upgraded equipment She started pursuing archery more seriously in 2018 and was picked for the junior camp in 202160No of points scored by Indiarsquos men in each of their last three sets 2 3 and 4 to clinch compound team gold238No of points scored by Indiarsquos womenrsquos compound team in the final mdash a world recordequalling scoreThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever