Asian Games 2026: India Archery Squad Begins Aichi Test

India’s 12-member archery contingent begins its Asian Games 2026 campaign in Aichi-Nagoya on September 26, with recurve and compound ranking rounds opening a competition in which the country will again carry significant medal expectations.

Archery has been one of India’s strongest sports at the Asian Games, and the team arrives in Japan after its best-ever medal return at Hangzhou 2023. India won nine archery medals at the previous edition, made up of five gold, two silver and two bronze. The Aichi-Nagoya squad, however, is a new-look and youthful group, with only a few members of that successful team returning.

The competition runs from September 26 to October 3 at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Okazaki, Aichi. India will field three athletes in each of the men’s and women’s recurve events, as well as three each in the men’s and women’s compound events. Individual, team and mixed-team competitions will be contested in both disciplines.

India’s 12-member archery squad for Aichi-Nagoya

The men’s recurve team comprises Dhiraj Bommadevara, Neeraj Chauhan and Yashdeep Bhoge. Ankita Bhakat, Kirti Sharma and Kumkum Mohod make up the women’s recurve group.

India’s men’s compound entry includes Sahil Jadhav, Kushal Dalal and Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru. The women’s compound team features Jyothi Surekha Vennam alongside Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep.

The squad was selected following national trials in Sonipat. World Archery described it as a youthful, new-look Indian team, while identifying Olympians Bommadevara and Bhakat and reigning Asian Games champion Vennam among its leading names.

Vennam brings the most recent Asian Games gold-medal pedigree into the Indian contingent. At Hangzhou, she won three titles in the women’s individual, women’s team and mixed-team compound events. She returns for the women’s compound events alongside Taniparthi and Pradeep, with India seeking another strong showing in a discipline that also produced team success at the last Games.

India’s men’s compound and women’s compound teams both won gold at Hangzhou 2023. Those results formed part of the five-gold haul that established India’s record archery medal total at an Asian Games. The 2026 campaign presents a fresh test because much of the group in Japan is not drawn from that previous medal-winning squad.

Asian Games archery schedule and key dates

Both recurve and compound ranking rounds are scheduled for September 26. Team and mixed-team elimination rounds follow on September 27, making the opening two days important across every Indian entry.

The individual compound competition begins on September 28, while the individual recurve events start on September 29. Compound medal rounds are scheduled across September 30 and October 1. The recurve medal rounds will then conclude the archery programme on October 2 and 3.

For India, the event offers an immediate opportunity to build on the benchmark set in Hangzhou while introducing a younger group to a major multi-sport competition. Bommadevara, Bhakat and Vennam provide experienced names within a squad spread evenly across the two disciplines and four team groups.

With 12 archers entered and medals available in individual, team and mixed-team events in recurve and compound, India’s campaign will unfold across eight days in Okazaki. The ranking rounds on September 26 mark the first step in a new Asian Games challenge for the Indian archery contingent.