Prithika Pradeep is sharpening her skills at the Sonipat camp.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Indian compound archers, shepherded by new head coach Dave Cousins, will have to lift themselves from recent lows, while the recurve squad will be eager to build on its new-found momentum ahead of the Asian Games in the fourth and last World Cup stage beginning here on Tuesday (July 7, 2026).

The tournament assumes significance for Indian archers, as it is their last international outing before the Asian Games in Japan — September 19-October 4.

For Cousins, one of the most decorated compound archers in history, it will also mark his first international assignment with India since taking charge around three months before the continental showpiece.

The American inherits an inconsistent side, which once was the world’s most feared compound unit. The 49-year-old replaces Italian Sergio Pagni, under whom India enjoyed an unprecedented golden era, sweeping all five compound gold medals besides adding a silver and a bronze at Hangzhou.

Pagni’s contract ended after the Hangzhou Games and his departure has coincided with a sharp decline in India’s fortunes.

Numbers don’t lie

From three World Cup stages this season, India have managed just one gold and a bronze.

Their lowest point came at Antalya last month when the compound contingent returned empty-handed.

Contrastingly, in 2023, during the build-up to the Hangzhou Games, India amassed seven gold, one silver and four bronze medals across four World Cup stages.

Despite reduced focus on compound event because it was not a part of the Paris Games in 2024, India collected six gold and three silver medals from three World Cups.

The decline became more evident in 2025, when India settled for three gold, three silver and five bronze medals from four stages.

Now, the slide has hit the rock-bottom this year.

After opening the season with the women’s team gold in Puebla, India managed only one bronze medal — through Sahil Jadhav — in Shanghai before drawing a blank in Antalya. Alarmingly, none of the Asian Games-bound compound archers reached the podium.

The transition has also been accelerated by the absence of several leading lights.

Ojas Deotale, the reigning Asian Games champion and triple gold medalist at Hangzhou, world champion Aditi Swami and Hangzhou team gold medallist Parneet Kaur failed to make the Asian Games squad.

The Archery Association of India made repeated attempts to bring back Pagni before finally appointing Cousins, whose stellar CV includes world titles across outdoor, indoor, field, 3D and World Games disciplines.

Cousins challenge and Jyothi’s decline

While Cousins’ credentials as an archer are beyond question, his biggest challenge lies in translating that excellence into coaching.

His international coaching experience is limited, but India have entrusted him with a long-term vision, handing him a contract through the Los Angeles Games, where compound archery will make its Olympic debut in the mixed team event.

He has already overseen two national camps — first at the high-altitude centre in Silaru, Himachal Pradesh, and later in Sonipat — before arriving in Madrid.

His immediate task is to ensure a smooth transition after the exit of veteran Abhishek Verma and revive the fortunes of India’s women’s spearhead Jyothi Surekha Vennam.

Jyothi has endured a prolonged drop in form. She has not won an individual World Cup gold since Shanghai in 2024, while her last international individual title came at the Madrid World Cup in 2025.

As a seasoned pro, Jyoti will have to handle more responsibility in a youthful women’s quartet featuring Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep, alongside Parneet.

The men’s side faces bigger challenges.

With Indian stalwart Verma no longer in the squad, Sahil Jadhav, Kushal Dalal and Thirumuru Ganesh Mani Ratnam have shown flashes of promise but are yet to consistently challenge the elite.

Rishabh Yadav, included for Madrid but not part of the Asian Games squad, completes the four-member team.

India’s slide has also coincided with China’s rapid emergence as a compound powerhouse.

China stunned the field by winning the men’s team title in Antalya after claiming bronze in Shanghai, signalling a significant shift in the balance of power.

Recurve’s rise

Unlike compound, India’s recurve archers arrive in Madrid with growing confidence.

Leading their charge is Paris Olympian Dhiraj Bommadevara. The Army archer produced the performance of his career in Antalya, defeating Olympic bronze medallist Lee Woo-seok of Korea 7-3 to clinch his maiden individual World Cup gold.

Dhiraj returns after overcoming the personal tragedy of losing his cousin recently and will spearhead the men’s challenge alongside Neeraj Chauhan and Yashdeep Bhoge, with veteran Atanu Das featuring as the fourth member in individual section.

The women’s recurve team, led by Ankita Bhakat, appears to be steadily finding its feet.

India had won the Shanghai World Cup gold with Deepika Kumari in the team, but the trio of Ankita, Kumkum Mohod and Kirti Sharma struggled to replicate that success in Antalya.

They suffered a disappointing quarterfinal exit against Turkey, exposing the void left by Deepika’s experience.

With Deepika failing to enter the Asian Games team and is only competing individually as the fourth member here, greater responsibility now rests on Ankita to guide the relatively young unit.

Published – July 07, 2026 05:53 am IST

Dave Cousins. File photo: Special Arrangement.

One of the most inspirational stories in Indian sports arose during the Paris Paralympics 2024, when armless archer Sheetal Devi came into prominence. Then 17, Sheetal was regarded as one of the finest para-archers in the world despite not having arms, and backed up her reputation by winning bronze in the mixed team compound category at Paralympics 2024, alongside Rakesh Kumar. Industrialist and Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra had made a promise to Sheetal to gift her a car, and that has now been fulfilled.

After a bullseye hit by Sheetal Devi had gone viral, Anand Mahindra had posted on social media that he had promised her any car from the Mahindra range, which would be customised specially for her.

As per Mahindra, Devi had said that she would take the gift only after she turned 18.

Now, having turned 18 on January 10, Mahindra has seemingly lived up to the promise, as Sheetal was gifted a Mahindra Scorpio N SUV.

I have long admired @archersheetal ‘s talent from afar. Meeting her in person, I was struck by her remarkable determination, tenacity and focus.

Speaking to her mother and sister, it was clear that it runs in the family!

She gifted me an arrow, a symbol of her identity as an… pic.twitter.com/SFY8RCf6iM

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 28, 2025

“I have long admired Sheetal Devi’s talent from afar. Meeting her in person, I was struck by her remarkable determination, tenacity and focus,” Mahindra tweeted.

“Sheetal is an inspiration to us all, and I am proud to see her in a Scorpio N, a fitting steed for her as she continues to rise to new heights,” he concluded.

Sheetal caught the eye of one and all during Paralympics 2024 with her unique style of archery. Despite being born with a rare congenital disease called phocomelia, the girl from Jammu has become a superb archer.

At the time of the Paralympics, Sheetal was ranked as the No. 1 archer in the women’s open compound category.

Not only did she win a medal at the Paralympics, Sheetal is also the first and only international para-archery champion without upper limbs. She has also won two golds and a silver at the 2022 Para Asian Games.

Having successfully changed the colour of his medal from bronze at Tokyo Paralympics to gold at Paris, India’s star para archer Harvinder Singh’s next target is to continue his successful run and complete his PhD. The first Indian para archer to have won a Paralympics medal at Tokyo, Harvinder rewrote history when he bagged the country’s maiden gold in the men’s recurve event at Paris on Thursday. “The preparations were going well in India at SAI Sonipat where I had both my coaches and that helped a lot. We came to France 15 days before (the event) and I was shooting well,” he told the media on Friday while discussing his preparations for the Paralympics.

“I was working on a few technical aspects. I wanted to go to Korea about 3-4 months ago but the coach was called here at SAI Sonipat,” said Harvinder, who has a disability in his legs following a medical mishap when he was one-and-a-half years old.

A local doctor administered him an injection which left him unable to move his legs properly after he had contracted dengue.

The first Indian to win a Paralympics medal in archery at Tokyo, Harvinder said he felt what the pressure of expectations means while he was preparing for Paris.

“The way the others would wish ‘best of luck’, it would be in a way that would convey to me that I now needed to change the colour (of the medal). It tells you the kind of exceptions that are there,” he said.

Harvinder, who was drawn into para archery after the 2012 Olympics, said he aims to finish his PhD which had to be put on the hold as his career took off in sports.

“I was active in studies until 2018. From 2012, I would study in the morning and practice in the evening and there would be days when I would have two sessions,” he said.

“I got busier in sports after I got the medal (gold in Asian Para Games) in 2018 and because of all of that, my PhD got delayed.” “I am doing PhD in economics from the Punjab University in Patiala, and since I have to win medals for the country, preparations for big tournaments also happened at big level which does not give me time, but I hope to finish my PhD in the next few months,” Harvinder said.

The 33-year-old also wants to relive the experience of seeing the Indian flag held up high and the national anthem being played as he wishes to win more medals.

“Every athlete dreams to win the gold medals, that their country’s flag flies high, the national anthem gets sung… all that happened here and I would hope that I am able to replicate it in the next competitions such as the World Championships,” he said.

Harvinder said he was mentally prepared to tackle the pressure in the Paralympics.

“I had handled the pressure before, of the semifinals and of the podium. I had it in my mind that I have to win (the gold), but the challenge was to bring it out in terms of performance and we were successful in it,” he said.

Harvinder hoped his feat in Paris is able to inspire lot many para athletes and bring more competitors to archery in general.

“The next challenge for me is to maintain this performance. I had got a lot of phone calls and messages after winning the the medal in Tokyo. This medal will contribute in the growth of para archery and archery in India,” he said.

Pooja Jatyan in action© X (formerly Twitter)

India suffered heartbreak from the archery arena as Sarita Kumari’s splendid run ended in quarterfinals, while armless wonder Sheetal Devi crashed out of the last-16 in the compound women’s open category at the Paralympics in Paris Paralympics 2024 on Saturday. Faridabad’s Sarita, who qualified as ninth seed, had a dominating outings in the first and second rounds before top-seed Oznur Cure Girdi of Korea halted her dream run in the last eight. Oznur, who smashed the world record to top the qualifying round with a score of 704 out of a maximum 720 points, shot three perfect 10s in the second end to take a healthy five-point lead.

Sarita took the third end and matched Oznur’s 30 with a perfect fourth end, but the Turkey archer remained four points in the lead, riding on her strong starts and wrapped it up with a 29 in the fifth end.

Sheetal, who draws the arrow with her toes, endured a blip in the second end where she shot the 7-point red ring to go down to Tokyo silver medalist Mariana Zuniga of Chile 137-138 in the pre-quarters.

All eyes were on Asian Para Games double gold medalist Sheetal, who also had bettered the previous world record of 698 shooting 703, to get a bye into the last-16 round.

Sheetal started out on a positive note as she hit two X dropped one point to take the opening set 29-28.

But her 7-point in the second arrow gave the Chilean seasoned archer the much-needed opening as she won the second end 27-26 to make it level (55-all).

It was a neck-and-neck affair for the duo in the next eight arrows, before Mariana edged out Sheetal in the final arrow by shooting a 9 as the Paralympics debutant Sheetal slipped to the 8-ring to lose by one-point.

On a day second seed Sheetal suffered an early elimination, ninth seed Sarita put up a dominated from the start to down Italy’s Eleonora Sarti 141-135 in a one-sided affair in her pre-quarters.

The ninth seeded Sarita, who won a team silver medal at the Asian Para Games last year, dropped just one point to take a four-point lead in the first end.

There was no looking back as she stretched the lead to five points in the second end where she shot one X (closer to the centre).

Her higher-ranked Italian rival pulled off two 10s and took the third end, but Sarita remained in control and sealed the issue with two solid ends.

Sarita earlier knocked out Nur Jannaton Abdul Jalil of Malaysia 138-124 in her first round clash.

In the open class, archers shoot from a sitting position at a distance of 50m at an 80cm five-ring target made up of the 10-6 point bands.

India’s schedule at Paris Paralympics 2024, August 31: After a memorable Friday at the ongoing Para Games, India would hope to continue the run on Saturday as well. Indian archer Sheetal Devi will be in action among the other stars from the nation on the day. The armless archer finished second in the women’s individual compound open ranking round with a stunning performance to directly make a round of 16 entry on Thursday, raising the country’s hopes for another podium finish. (Paris Paralympics 2024 medals tally)

12:00 PM: Para badminton – Mandeep Kaur vs Celine Aureline Vinot (Australia) – Women’s Singles SL3 Group B (Group Stage)

1:00 PM: Para shooting – Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar – R1 Men’s 10m Air Rifle SH1 Standing (Qualification)

1:20 PM: Para badminton – Nitish Kumar vs Mongkhon Bunsun (Thailand) – Men’s Singles SL3 Group A (Group Stage)

1:30 PM: Para cycling – Jyoti Gaderiya – Women’s 500m Time Trial C1-C3 (Qualification)

1:49 PM: Para cycling – Arshad Shaik – Men’s 1000m Time Trial C1-C3 (Qualification)

2:00 PM: Para badminton – Manoj Sarkar vs Ynag Jianyuan (China) – Men’s Singles SL3 Group A (Group Stage)

2:40 PM: Para rowing – Anita/Narayana – PR 3 Mixed Doubles Sculls (Repechage)

2:40 PM: Para badminton – Sukant Kadam vs Siripong Teamarrom (Thailand) – Men’s Singles SL4 Group B (Group Stage)

3:20 PM: Para badminton – Tarun Dhillon vs Lucas Mazur (France) – Men’s Singles SL4 Group D (Group Stage)

3:30 PM: Para shooting – Rubina Francis – P2 Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 (Qualification)

3:45 PM: Para shooting – Subject to Qualification – R1 Men’s 10m Air Rifle SH1 Standing (Finals)

4:00 PM: Para badminton – Manisha Ramadas vs Yang Qiu Xia (China) – Women’s Singles SU5 Group C (Group Stage)

5:05 PM: Para cycling – Subject to Qualification – Women’s 500m Time Trial C1-C3 (Finals)

5:32 PM: Para cycling – Subject to Qualification – Men’s 1000m Time Trial C1-C3 (Finals)

6:15 PM: Para shooting – Subject to Qualification – P2 Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 (Finals)

7.00 PM: Para archery – Sarita vs Eleonara Sarti (Italy) – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Round of 16)

8:59 PM: Para archery – Sheetal Devi vs Mariana Zuniga (Chile) – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Round of 16)

9:16 PM: Para archery – Subject to Qualification – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Quarterfinals)

10:24 PM: Para archery – Subject to Qualification – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Semifinals)

10:30 PM: Para athletics – Parveen Kumar – Men’s Javelin F57 (Finals)

11:13 PM: Para archery – Subject to Qualification – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Bronze Medal Match)

11:30 PM: Para archery – Subject to Qualification – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Finals)