Olympic glory is ultimate; Shanghai success reflects India’s mental preparation: Jyothi Surekha Vennam

Star compound archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam, who won three gold medals in the Shanghai World Cup, stressed that compound archery should be in the Olympics, expressing that winning a medal at the quadrennial mega event will add further glory to her career.

Jyothi won a hat-trick of gold medals in Shanghai on Saturday in the women’s compound team, mixed team and individual categories. Such a feat was earlier achieved by Indian archery ace Deepika Kumari in 2021 at the (recurve) Archery World Cup Stage 3 Paris.

“I’m happy to win three golds. Not only for me but for the entire compound team who bagged four gold and one silver. We are extremely happy as a team,” Jyothi told SAI Media. “We all feel compound archery should be in the Olympics because we have a big chance. We waited with bated breath last year when it was being discussed whether to get it included in the 2028 Olympics. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”

“For me personally, at the back of my head I know that the Olympics is the biggest thing in the world of sports and winning a medal there will add further glory to my career. But I would say that I’m content to have won medals in all international competitions possible in compound archery,” said Jyothi.

Vennam hopes that the recurve archery team will end India’s medal drought in Archery at the Paris Olympics and backed ace recurve archer Deepika Kumari to qualify for her fourth Olympics.

So far, only Dhiraj Bommadevara secured the Paris 2024 Olympics quota in archery, which he earned at the Asian Continental Qualifier Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand last year.

“I’m really hoping the recurve archers get the medal this time at the Olympics. So far, we have got only one quota (bagged by Dhiraj Bommadevara in men’s recurve event) but there are more qualifiers coming up for Paris 2024,” said the 27-year-old archer.

Discussing Deepika, her senior counterpart and a three-time Olympian, who on a comeback trail won the individual silver in Shanghai after taking a break in 2023 to embrace motherhood, Jyothi added, “Deepika di has always been a good archer and has a lot of achievements. To be back in the team representing India and reaching the top 4 in the ongoing World Cup is really great. I’m sure she will do really well as long as she keeps playing the sport,” Jyothi said.

India finished its Archery World Cup Stage 1 campaign with five gold, two silver and a bronze.The Shanghai performance has reflected India’s mental conditioning and preparation for global events. In top events like the Olympics, Indians have been prone to mental frailties in pressure situations.

“When you perform well and get the results, confidence build up happens naturally and mentally you become stronger. It reflects the way you are. And we are in this state now. We are putting consistent hard work even beyond winning medals,” said Jyothi.