Between 2023 and 2025, Indian archery has undergone a transformation that goes well beyond medals and headlines.
What the sport has witnessed is a structural shift from occasional brilliance to sustained, system-driven dominance across recurve, compound, and para disciplines. India is no longer a challenger disrupting the established order; it is now shaping that order, backed by data, depth, and an unforgiving meritocracy .
World Championships: From breakthroughs to authority
The clearest marker of this evolution came at the 2025 World Archery Championships in Gwangju. India’s men’s compound team Rishabh Yadav, Aman Saini, and Prathamesh Fuge won the country’s first-ever world title in the event, edging France 235–233 in a final defined by nerve and precision. Trailing early, the Indian trio responded with exceptional composure, closing the contest with three consecutive 10s when it mattered most.
That gold, combined with a silver in the compound mixed team event, reflected continuity rather than surprise. Two years earlier in Berlin 2023, India had topped the medal table with three golds. The shift from Berlin to Gwangju signals a mature phase India no longer peaks once per cycle; it now sustains elite performance even in hostile environments and against traditional powers.
World Cup circuit: Depth, not dependency
If World Championships measure peak excellence, the World Cup circuit tests consistency and bench strength. Across the 2024–25 World Cup season, India amassed a formidable tally of medals across multiple stages, underlining a depth few nations can match.
The 2025 season opener in Auburndale set the tone. Rishabh Yadav and Jyothi Surekha Vennam claimed gold in the compound mixed team an event of growing strategic importance with Olympic inclusion on the horizon. Dhiraj Bommadevara’s bronze in individual recurve was equally significant, reflecting India’s steady closing of the gap in the Olympic discipline .
Shanghai, however, marked the high point. Madhura Dhamangaonkar’s return from hiatus culminated in an individual compound gold, defeating top-ranked opponents under pressure. The men’s compound team followed suit with another gold, while Deepika Kumari and 60th-seed Parth Salunkhe delivered bronze medals in recurve, the latter upsetting Olympic and world champions along the way.
These were not isolated performances but evidence of a system producing match-winners across age groups and experience levels.
The season-ending World Cup Final in Nanjing reinforced this trend. Jyothi Surekha Vennam became the first Indian woman to medal in individual compound at the Finals, defeating world number two Ella Gibson with a perfect 150—a technical statement as much as a medal-winning one.
Asian Championships: The recurve revolution
India’s dominance reached its most symbolic expression at the 2025 Asian Archery Championships in Dhaka. Finishing atop the medal table with six golds, India displaced South Korea an outcome that would have seemed unthinkable a decade ago.
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Crucially, this was not just a compound story. Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat won individual recurve golds, while the men’s recurve team ended a Korean winning streak that had lasted since 2009. Ankita Bhakat’s victory over Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist Nam Su-hyeon captured the essence of India’s new confidence: technical clarity combined with psychological fearlessness .
India’s performance at the 2025 FISU World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr offered further validation of its developmental depth. Two gold, two silver, and one bronze medal in archery highlighted a seamless transition between junior, university, and senior pathways. Victories over Korean opposition in compound mixed events and tight team finals showed that India’s competitive edge is not confined to senior elites. It is embedded across the system a critical factor for long-term sustainability.
Sheetal Devi: Redefining possibility
No account of Indian archery’s rise is complete without Sheetal Devi. Born with phocomelia, Devi has not only rewritten para-archery records but expanded the sport’s technical imagination. Using her feet to hold the bow and her chin to operate a release, she won gold at the 2025 Para World Championships and shattered world records at the Paris Paralympics.
Her achievements 703 in the ranking round and a mixed team world record with Rakesh Kumar are not symbolic gestures. They represent technical perfection under the most demanding conditions, placing India at the forefront of innovation and inclusion in global archery .
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This renaissance rests on strong institutional foundations. The Archery Association of India’s ruthless, form-based selection policy ensures reputation never outweighs results. Meanwhile, the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) has evolved rapidly following the IOC’s inclusion of compound archery for LA 2028. Seven compound archers now sit in the TOPS core group, receiving sustained financial, coaching, and international exposure support.
India has also adapted swiftly to global rule changes, including reduced qualification rounds and experimental scoring formats. Indian compound archers, trained for extreme precision, have benefited disproportionately reflected in rising average arrow scores that now rival the world’s best.
From world titles and continental dominance to record-breaking para performances, Indian archery between 2023 and 2025 has entered a phase of unmatched momentum. This is not a golden generation riding luck or timing. It is the product of structure, data, and relentless internal competition.
As the sport looks ahead to the 2026 Asian Games and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, one reality is clear: Indian archery is no longer chasing the world. It is setting the standard by which the world is now measured .
