India clinches women's and mixed compound archery golds at Asian Games, secures Olympic berth

India defended its women’s and mixed‑team compound archery titles at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi‑Nagoya, beating China 238‑234 in the women’s final and edging South Korea in a shoot‑off after a 157‑157 tie in the mixed final. The women’s trio – Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Prithika Pradeep and Chikitha Thaniparthi – delivered the 238 points that put China on the back foot, sealing the gold with a four‑point margin. In the mixed event, Chikitha paired with Sahil Jadhav; after four series the scores were level, and the Indian pair held their nerve in the sudden‑death shoot‑off to clinch victory over Korea. The win also secured India a place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where the mixed compound event will be contested for the first time. Earlier in the day India had narrowly beaten South Korea 234‑233 in the semi‑final, pulling ahead after Chikitha and Prithika each shot a ten and Jyothi added a nine to break a 175‑all deadlock. India’s women’s compound team has medalled at every Asian Games since the event began in 2014 – bronze in 2014, silver in 2018 and back‑to‑back golds, with 30‑year‑old Jyothi part of all four podium finishes. The victory lifted India to ninth place in the overall Games standings, following a sixth gold on Tuesday won by the women’s 4×400 m relay team.

Context

Compound archery was introduced to the Asian Games in 2014 and has become a strong suit for India, especially in the women’s team where consistent podium finishes have built a winning culture.