Top Indian Women in Archery | Female Archers in India

India's Best Women Archers on Target

Archery is one of the oldest arts still practiced and has evolved into a global sport in modern times. The two great epics of India, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata, describe at length the artistry and perfection achieved by Indian archers centuries earlier. The feats of Arjuna, Eklavya, Karna, Bhishm Pitamah, Dronacharya, Bhagwan Parsuram, Guru Gobind Singh ji, and those of Lord Rama and Laxman are still recounted with great pride.

India’s tryst with modern-day archery started in 1975, three years after the game was chosen as part of the Olympic discipline in the 1972 Munich Games. In India, the first Senior National Archery Championship was held in Delhi in April 1973 in which about 50 men and women Archers participated. The success of Indian Archery in the International arena came in 1987 during the 5th Asian Championship held at Kolkata where the Indian Men’s Team comprising Limba Ram, Shyamlal and Rajat Haldar won the Bronze Medal in the Men’s Team event.

Indian archery’s ascent began in 2003 when the team secured six Olympic berths for the Athens Games at the New York World Championships. Dola Banerjee made history by becoming the first Indian archer to win an individual Gold Medal in the World Cup Final in 2007. Deepika Kumari is another Indian archer who has made her mark, having qualified for the World Cup finals five times and won four individual silver medals. Both Deepika Kumari and Komalika Bari have won titles at the junior and cadet world championships. Fast forward to 2023, Jyothi Surekha, along with Aditi Gopichand Swami and Parneet Kaur, brought home a gold medal at the World Archery Championships, defeating Mexico by a score of 235-229 in the Compound Women’s Team final. Aditi Gopichand Swami made history by becoming India’s first-ever individual world champion at the senior level when she won the gold medal in the Compound Women’s final at the same tournament.

Let’s have a look at the Top Women Archer in recent times

Medals in 2023 Asian Games

Medal	Name	Event
Gold	Jyothi Surekha	Women compound individual
Gold	Aditi Swami, Jyothi Surekha, Parneet Kaur	Women’s team compound
Gold	Jyothi Surekha	Mixed team compound
Bronze	Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, Simranjeet kaur	Women’s team recurve
Bronze	Aditi Swami	Women compound individual

Deepika Kumari

Deepika Kumari is a top-notch Indian archer, She is a former world number one and represented India in the 2021 Summer Olympics. She has won a record 3 gold medals at the 2021 Paris World Cup. She also won a gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the women’s individual recurve event & team recurve event. She has been conferred the Arjuna Award and Padma Shri.

Jyothi Surekha Vennam

Jyothi Surekha Vennam is a Top Indian archer who represents India in Compound Archery. In 2023, Jyoti won three gold medals in the 2022 Asian Games becoming the first Indian to win multiple gold medals in archery. She won Gold in Individual, Women’s team, and mixed doubles events. Earlier She also won a Gold medal in the Compound archery event at the World Cup both in the individual (2023) and mixed team events. In 2023, she became the first Indian archer along with teammates Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur to win a gold medal at the World Archery Championships defeating Mexico by a score of 235-229 in the Compound Women’s Team final.

Aditi Swami

Aditi Swami is a young Indian archer and she represents India compound archery. In 2023, she was part of the gold medal-winning Indian team at the Asian Games 2022 and also won bronze in the women’s Individual event. She became India’s first-ever individual world champion at the senior level when she won the Gold in the Compound Women’s final at the 2023 World Archery Championships. She was also a double medalist at the 2023 World Archery Youth Championships, winning individual and team golds. In 2023, she along with teammates Jyothi Surekha and Parneet Kaur won a gold medal at the World Archery Championships defeating Mexico by a score of 235-229 in the Compound Women’s Team final.

Avneet Kaur

Avneet Kaur, a promising Indian compound archer, has been chosen to represent India in the upcoming 2022 Asian Games. Her talent shone brightly in 2023 when she earned a bronze medal at the 2023 World Archery World Cup in Shanghai. Earlier in 2022, she played a pivotal role as a member of the women’s team, contributing to their bronze medal win in the women’s team event at the 2022 World Archery World Cup in Gwangju.

Parneet Kaur

Parneet Kaur is a young Indian archer who competes in Compound events. In 2023, she was part of the gold medal-winning Indian team at the Asian Games 2022. Earlier in year, Along with Jyothi Vennam and Aditi Swami, she made history by becoming the first-ever archer from India to win a gold medal at the Archery World Championships. In the women’s team compound event, the Indian team defeated Mexico 235-229 in the final to claim the gold medal in Berlin.

Ankita Bhakat

Ankita Bhakat is an accomplished Indian recurve archer, who represents the Indian national recurve team in various international events. She competes in the women’s individual, women’s team, and mixed team recurve categories. In 2017, she participated in the World Archery Youth Championships held in Rosario, Argentina, and won a gold medal in the recurve junior mixed team event, along with her partner Jemson Singh Ningthoujam. Along with Simarnjeet Kaur and Simranjeet Kaur, she won the Women’s team recurve event bronze medal for India in the 2022 Asian Games.

Bhajan Kaur

Bhajan Kaur is a young Indian recurve archer, who represents the Indian national recurve team in various international events. She competes in the women’s individual, women’s team, and mixed team recurve categories. Along with Ankita Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur, she won the Women’s team recurve event bronze medal for India in the 2022 Asian Games. In the 2023 Archery World Cup held in Paris, she, along with her teammates Ankita Bhakat and Simaranjeet Kaur secured the bronze medal in the Recurve women’s team event.

Simranjeet Kaur

Simranjeet Kaur is a recurve archer, who proudly represents the Indian national recurve team on the global stage, participating in a range of international competitions. She excels in individual women’s, women’s team, and mixed team recurve events. In the 2023 Archery World Cup in Paris, she and her teammates Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur achieved a commendable feat by securing the bronze medal in the Recurve women’s team event. Notably, in the previous year’s 2022 Archery World Cup held in Paris, she was also a valuable part of the team that clinched the silver medal. Along with Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur, she won the Women’s team recurve event bronze medal for India in the 2022 Asian Games.