Their men’s team edged past India to take bronze in World Cup Stage 2 at Shanghai, and went better in the Antalya Stage 3 by capturing the country’s first World Cup gold in the event after beating India again in the semi-finals. Mumbai: This year, China did something they hadn’t in the recent past—field a full-fledged compound archery team in all the four World Cup stages, not just for their home tournament. The result?
Chinese Taipei won gold in Antalya, Turkey. South Korea, Chinese Taipei and Malaysia also have a World Cup compound medal each this year. Countries like China and Korea adding compound archery to their vast basket of focal sports has a lot to do with the discipline’s Olympic stamp. The mixed event will debut in LA, and the Asian Games offers a quota to the winning team. India did not win a single mixed team medal in World Cups this year.
India have four—women’s team gold in Stage 1 and silver in Stage 4, Jadhav’s bronze in Stage 2 and Prithika’s bronze in Stage 4. That’s a drop from 10 through the four World Cups last year. At the 2025 World Championships, Korea’s Choi Yong-hee won the men’s bronze while the Kazakhstan women’s team stood third in compound.
Because asian countries are starting to catch up in compound, fun also.
The current squad features Jyothi Surekha Vennam, 30, who contributed to three of the five gold in Hangzhou, as the only recurrent face from 2023. Joining her are Chikitha Taniparthi, 21, and 17-year-old Prithika Pradeep in the women’s team, and Sahil Jadhav, 25, Kushal Dalal, 21, and Ganesh Thirumuru, 20, in the men’s team. India’s recurve squad also has only Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat from the 2023 group, which returned with two team medals. Sawant cited the example of an U-21 invitational tournament last month in Korea, in which Chinese Taipei beat India in compound.
All of them will debut at the Asian Games after a top-three finish at the selection trials in May. The fresh and young look is not just restricted to compound. The other women in the squad, Kirti and Kumkum Mohod, are teenagers. “This time, it will be fun to see what happens. This year, they had their entire compound team competing in World Cups, winning medals and being consistent.
“India’s compound team was really solid the last time, and delivered an exceptional performance,” said Pravin Sawant, the coach of two Hangzhou gold medallists (2023 world champions Aditi Swami and Ojas Deotale) and one debutant in Japan (Jadhav). “Not only with India, but even with the world, I would say,” Jyothi told HT when asked if the other Asian countries are catching up in compound. “We have been doing well, but so are the other countries in Asia now,” the Satara-based coach said. “These countries tend to be one step ahead in terms of planning and long-term vision.”
“China were previously only in recurve.
