For Chikitha's archery dream, her father gave up the family rice harvester

When Chikitha Taniparthi picked up a bow during a Dussehra holiday, she had no idea it would eventually take her to the Asian Games. The schoolgirl from Sultanpur village in Telangana's Peddapalli district was more interested in karate at the time, having trained in the sport from Class 6 to Class 8 and earned her first black belt.

Her father Srinvasa Rao, however, wanted his daughter to pursue sport. He had never had the opportunity to play himself and encouraged his children to spend time on playgrounds. When he saw Chikitha take an interest in archery, he decided to back her.

"I didn't get into archery on my own. It was my father's choice. He wanted me to play sport because he couldn't play any sport. When I was small, he used to take us to playgrounds. Every day we used to play some games," Chikitha said.

The bow that started it all came from her uncle, who lives in Hyderabad. He bought a recurve Decathlon bow during a Dussehra holiday and Chikitha began shooting arrows at a target she had created in the backyard.

"There was a Dussehra holiday, my father's younger brother who lives in Hyderabad, bought a recurve Decathlon bow. I tried it just for fun. We used to shoot just for fun at that time," she recalled.

By 2018, Chikitha was taking archery seriously. She was selected for a junior camp in 2021, but the family soon realised that pursuing the sport would require considerable investment. Rao took a loan to buy upgraded equipment and later sold the family's rice harvester to fund her training.

He also took her to a nearby town to train with a local archer. When the family lost Rs 1.5 lakh in a fraud while trying to buy her first compound bow, Rao borrowed another Rs 3.5 lakh for new equipment. Chikitha's performances later earned her a government-funded bow from the district Collector.

The next step was finding a training environment that could match her growing ambitions. The family travelled to Delhi, where Chikitha met compound archer Abhishek Verma. After training with him, she was selected for the SAI Centre in Sonepat.

"At that time, I was in school. We didn't know much about anything. Then I messaged Abhishek Verma sir's wife. Ma'am told me to come. Then we went there and I trained for five days. I was selected to train in Sonipat," Chikitha said.

Her workload increased considerably at Sonepat. SAI coach Vivek Kumar told PTI that she would shoot around 300 arrows a day across two sessions and would regularly arrive early for training.

"She would shoot about 300 arrows per day in two sessions and would come to training half an hour in advance before the 6.30 AM assembly even in sheer cold," Kumar said.

Abhishek Verma remained an important influence as Chikitha developed as a compound archer.

"From that time to now, he is supporting me, helping me, teaching me. He is my inspiration," she said.

Her father had also been influenced by Saina Nehwal's success. After the Hyderabad-based badminton player won an Olympic medal, Rao became convinced that Chikitha should continue with an individual sport.

"After Saina Nehwal won an Olympic medal, he decided that I should play another sport (archery instead of karate)," Chikitha said.

The youngster began making her mark internationally and became world youth champion last year. She also won team silver at the World Cup in 2025 and again this year.

The period after her world title, however, was difficult. Chikitha struggled with her shooting aim and found it hard to reproduce the performances that had taken her to the top of the youth category.

"Personally I have been struggling this past year, facing some difficulties. After becoming world champion last year, it became very difficult for me to perform at the same level. I was struggling with my shooting aim," she said.

Two medals at the Asia Cup helped her regain confidence, and she eventually returned to India's first team. Her approach was to stop dwelling on expectations and focus on what she could control.

"I just concentrated and said 'you have to do it for yourself and give it 100'," she said.

That focus was crucial when she arrived in Nagoya for her first Asian Games. Chikitha teamed up with Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Prithika Pradeep to win the women's compound team gold. She then returned for the mixed team final with Sahil Jadhav. The Indian pair were taken into a shoot-off by Korea, but held their nerve to secure another gold and complete a memorable debut.

Chikitha credits meditation and breathing exercises for helping her handle pressure. She follows the routine twice a day and says trusting the process has helped her stay composed during difficult moments. "I do meditation and breathing exercises regularly, twice a day. I trust my process and follow it for a long time," she said.- Ends