After World Cup wins, archer Jyothi Surekha eyes gold at Asian Games

When archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam landed in Antalya, Turkey for the year's first World Cup, her realistic expectation was to find rhythm. Not having competed since the World Games in July last year, the 26-year-old's main goal was to “shoot right”, and if everything went well win “maybe a medal or two”.

But winning twin gold – in mixed team and individual -- was a pleasant shock to the seasoned compound archer. “I am not complaining though,” she laughs. “There were no competitions for nine months, which is a huge gap in elite sport. You tend to forget the good habits and acquire the bad ones.”

Compound is a non-Olympic discipline with only recurve part of the Olympics.

Jyothi used the break from competition to switch jobs, leaving BPCL and joining as Deputy Commissioner in the Andhra Pradesh government. “All that paperwork and stuff meant I was away from archery for a bit. When I returned to practice, I made sure I put in the hard yards. Still, putting hours in practice is one thing and repeating it in a high-pressure competition is another.”

In an international career spanning 12 years, she has won medals in World Championships, World Cups, Asian Championships and Asian Games, which makes her a continental stalwart. An individual gold though had eluded her, an anomaly she corrected on a benign afternoon on Saturday.

“To be honest, I don't know where I lacked all along. That missing gold always hurt, but I found a way to deal with it while believing that my time will come.”

Jyothi's belief stemmed from her superb form going back to 2021, when she won the team, mixed team and individual silver medals at the Yankton (US) World Championships, where she also shot her then second-highest qualifying score of 701. Her career-best qualification score till then was 706 shot in 2018.

In 2021, she won silver in the individual compound event at the Paris World Cup to go with gold in mixed team. Her best score that year was 705. In her first competition this year, she shot 713 in qualification -- her career-best score equalled the world record. For the third year in a row, she had shot 700 or more in qualification.

“When you shoot well in qualification, you carry a lot of momentum into the final. Equalling the world record in qualifying was the first indicator that I was shooting well. It gave me a lot of belief and I just capitalised.”

The world No 4 got one back on Britain’s world No 1 Ella Gibson, who she beat 148-146 in the semi-final. Gibson had denied Jyothi gold at last year's Paris World Cup, prevailing in a thrilling shoot-out.

“That win was really special. I was carrying that Paris heartbreak all these months. When I lost to her last year, I began to think whether I will ever win a gold.” Her remedy to those self-doubts was simple – try looking for positives.

“I began telling myself that winning silver medals meant I was good enough to win at the international stage. A lot of times we start focussing too much on negatives and let our strengths take a backseat. More than medals or scoreboard, I decided to concentrate on my shooting. It calmed me down. I trusted that process and repeated it in Antalya.”

The win over Gibson was followed by a 149-146 triumph over Colombia's Sara Lopez, a six-time World Championships medallist. Beating two modern greats in succession has given her the confidence to set another record straight -- win a maiden Asian Games gold.

“I can't wait to end that wait,” said Jyothi, who won team silver and bronze in the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games.

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