Andhra Pradesh athletes clinch three golds and a bronze at Asian Games

Andhra Pradesh athletes have added three gold medals and a bronze to India’s tally at the Asian Games in Japan. The medals came from compound archery, women’s cricket and men’s badminton. Nine sportspersons from the state – badminton stars P.V. Sindhu, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Kidambi Srikanth and Kavipriya Selvam, cricketer Sree Charani, archers Dhiraj Bommadevara, Thirumuru Ganesh Mani Ratnam, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and hurdler Jyothi Yarraji – are representing the state, officials said. On September 30 the women’s compound archery trio of Jyothi Surekha, Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep beat China 238‑234 in Okazaki, matching the world record. The men’s team of Ganesh Mani Ratnam, Kushal Dalal and Sahil Jadhav edged the same opponent 238‑237 after a semi‑final win over South Korea. President Droupadi Murmu praised the precision and teamwork of both squads. Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the women’s record‑tying performance, while Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya called the men’s gold a proud moment for Indian archery. State leaders N. Chandrababu Naidu, K.P. Kalyan and Nara Lokesh also lauded the archers. The men’s badminton team, which includes Satwiksairaj and Srikanth, secured a bronze after a 3‑1 loss to China in the semi‑final at Ichinomiya; every squad member receives a medal. For Jyothi Surekha, the gold marks her sixth Asian Games medal – four gold, one silver and one bronze – over four editions. Her father Surendra Kumar recalled her early swimming record and her switch to archery at age twelve. The Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada, run by Cherukuri Satyanarayana, credits disciplined training for the success. Dhiraj Bommadevara set an Asian Games record of 698 in the recurve ranking round and reached the individual quarter‑finals.## Context Andhra Pradesh’s recent haul shows the state’s growing strength in multiple sports, especially archery, where focused training programmes have begun to pay off across national and continental events.