Asian Games Archery: Jyothi Surekha wins individual gold, Aditi Gopichand bronze

Jyothi Surekha Vennam, exhibiting her quintessential consistency, clinched her third gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 on Saturday in Hangzhou.

Up against a familiar opponent of South Korea So Chaewon, Jyothi won the Women's Compound 15 Arrows 50m final with a 149-145 victory.

Jyothi, who held her nerves till the last moment, was trailing by two points at one point with the Korean consistently fetching 10 and 9 in the 15-arrow final.

But Jyothi, who was still trailing by three points before the final arrow, came up with a perfect 10 being the last archer, as Chaewon came up with a below-par 8 under pressure.

The last arrow helped Jyothi edge the Korean to complete a three-star performance, winning three gold in all three events that she participated in at the Asian Games.

Earlier, Jyothi won the women’s compound archery team gold, teaming up with Aditi Gopichand Swami and Parneet Kaur, on Thursday. They beat Chinese Taipei 230-229 in the final.

In the mixed team compound archery final, Jyothi paired up with Pravin Ojas Deotale and defeated South Korea's So Chaewon and Jaehoon Joo 159-158 in a closely fought match to clinch the gold medal.

Meanwhile, teenage archer Aditi Gopichand Swami, playing in the Women Compound 15 Arrows 50m final, won the bronze medal by beating Indonesia's Ratih Zilizati Fadhly in a lopsided contest. Aditi won the match 146-140.

Aditi lost to Jyothi 146-149 in the all-Indian semifinal on Tuesday. The 17-year-old from Maharashtra, however, would be happy to return home with two medals - gold and bronze -

India has so far won 97 medals, with the country waiting to know the colour of medals in events like Kabaddi, cricket and badminton.