Indian Archers Secure First Olympic Quota for Los Angeles 2028 Games

Indian archer Chikitha Taniparthi and her teammate Sahil Jadhav won the gold medal in the Compound Archery Mixed Team event at Nagoya, securing India's first quota place for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. The pair defeated Korean archers Park Jeong-yun and Choi Yonghee in a tense shoot-off after both teams were tied at 157 points each at the end of the fourth round. In the final shoot-off, the Indian duo edged out their opponents 20 to 19.

Family Sacrifice

Chikitha's journey to international success began in Sultanpur village in the Peddapalli district of Telangana, roughly two hundred kilometres north of Hyderabad. Her family faced severe financial hardship after losing one lakh fifty thousand rupees to a fraudster while trying to buy her first professional bow. Her father, fifty-one-year-old paddy farmer Srinivas Rao, eventually sold the family's rice harvester and took out village loans of three lakh fifty thousand rupees to fund proper equipment and training expenses. Her mother, Sreelata Rao, cheered her on from home as Chikitha also won a gold medal in the Women's team event alongside veteran Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Prithika, after topping the qualification round.

Training and Mentorship

Before taking up archery seriously, Chikitha earned a black belt in karate at a local academy, which helped her build the core stability and mental focus required for a stationary sport. Her father initially built makeshift targets out of cardboard boxes and target cloth in the empty space behind their home, and regularly took her to train in nearby Karimnagar. Later, the family traveled to Delhi where they met international archer Abhishek Verma, who mentored Chikitha before she secured selection for the Sports Authority of India Centre in Sonepat. Financial stability improved after the Reliance Foundation began funding her top-quality equipment, and the local district collector later provided a new bow from government funds following her sub-junior national victory.

Context

Archery quotas at international qualifying events are awarded to the country rather than individual athletes, meaning India has secured an entry spot for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics in this category. Compound archery is growing rapidly across India, supported by targeted funding from sports foundations and government schemes that help rural athletes access professional equipment.