No Ojas Deotale or Abhishek Verma: India’s Compound Archery Asian Games Squad Sees Major Overhaul

Indian archery’s selection shake-up has extended beyond recurve, with the country’s compound teams for the upcoming Asian Games witnessing equally dramatic changes.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the absence of Ojas Pravin Deotale and Abhishek Verma from the men’s compound squad despite both archers having contested the individual final at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou. The final selections, made after the second phase and final selection trials conducted by the Archery Association of India, underline how intensely competitive India’s compound archery structure has become.

India’s Selected Compound Squads

Compound Men

1. Sahil Rajesh Jadhav

2. Kushal Dalal

3. Ganesh Thiru Muru

Compound Women

1. Jyothi Surekha Vennam

2. Chikitha

3. Prithika Pradeep

The selections represent a significant transition, particularly in the men’s category where India has traditionally enjoyed enormous continental success.

The omission becomes even more striking when viewed against the backdrop of the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. There, India produced one of its greatest compound archery performances ever. Ojas Deotale and Abhishek Verma reached the men’s individual compound final, guaranteeing India both gold and silver medals in the event. Ojas eventually defeated Abhishek 149-147 in a high-quality all-Indian final.

It was a landmark achievement for Indian compound archery at continental level. Ojas’ route to gold included victories over archers from Kuwait, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, and South Korea, while Abhishek defeated opponents from Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, and Korea before losing narrowly in the final.

India also dominated the compound team events in Hangzhou Men’s team gold, Women’s team gold & Mixed team gold. The compound squad effectively established itself as one of Asia’s strongest systems during those Games.

Despite those achievements, the new selection trials produced a completely different outcome. In the compound men’s qualification standings, Ojas topped the charts with 2139 points, narrowly ahead of Sahil Rajesh Jadhav (2138) and Shivshankar Landkar (2132). Abhishek Verma and Aman Saini followed with 2130 points each.

However, the final Asian Games squad was eventually finalized as Sahil Rajesh Jadhav, Kushal Dalal & Ganesh Thiru Muru

That means neither Ojas nor Abhishek ultimately secured a place despite their proven international pedigree. The exact internal selection methodology beyond qualification scores has not been fully detailed publicly, but the outcome clearly reflects India’s highly competitive depth and the emphasis on recent trial performance consistency.

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Indian compound archery has evolved into one of the country’s most merit-driven Olympic disciplines. Unlike several sports where reputation or past achievements heavily influence selections, Indian archery trials operate with an almost unforgiving structure where even established world champions remain vulnerable.

That system has produced both positives and controversies. On one hand, it constantly refreshes the talent pipeline and maintains extremely high domestic standards. On the other, it can result in globally accomplished archers missing major events despite proven international medal credentials.

The current squad selection perfectly reflects that balance.

While the men’s squad underwent major changes, the women’s compound category still revolves around Jyothi Surekha Vennam. The Indian star once again topped the qualification standings with 2115 points and remains India’s most reliable compound archer internationally. At the previous Asian Games, Jyothi played a central role in India’s dominance with women’s team gold, mixed team gold with Ojas Deotale & individual medal performance

Her consistency across World Cups, Asian events, and multi-sport competitions has made her arguably India’s most accomplished active archer. This time, she will be joined by Chikitha and Prithika Pradeep in the women’s compound squad. Interestingly, Parneet Kaur, who was part of India’s gold-medal-winning women’s team in Hangzhou, also misses out despite strong recent performances.

Even with the changes, India’s compound setup remains among the strongest in Asia.

Unlike recurve, where Korea continues to dominate globally, compound archery has allowed India to establish itself as a genuine powerhouse. That depth is now so intense that even world champions and Asian Games finalists are no longer guaranteed selection.

The challenge for the new-look men’s squad will be maintaining India’s dominance at the Asian Games level. Replacing Ojas and Abhishek is not a routine transition. Both archers have repeatedly delivered under pressure against elite international competition. Sahil Rajesh Jadhav, Kushal Dalal, and Ganesh Thiru Muru now inherit the responsibility of defending India’s continental reputation. Similarly, the women’s squad will carry enormous expectations after India’s gold-medal-winning performances in Hangzhou.

Ultimately, these selections confirm one reality Indian compound archery has entered a phase where depth is no longer the issue selection itself has become the biggest battle. Very few countries possess a domestic system where reigning Asian Games finalists can fail to make the next continental squad.

India now does.

And while the omissions of Ojas Deotale and Abhishek Verma will dominate headlines, the broader message is clear Indian compound archery’s internal standard has become brutally competitive.