For Chikita’s archery dream, her father gave up the family rice harvester

Little did Chikitha Taniparthi pick up her bow during the Dussehra holiday that 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 that time as she practiced the sport from class 6 to class 8 and earned her first black belt.

However, her father Srinvasa Rao wanted his daughter to pursue sports. He never had the opportunity to play himself and encouraged his children to spend time on the playgrounds. Seeing Chikitha’s interest in archery, he decided to support her.

“I didn’t get into archery on my own. It was my father’s choice. He wanted me to do sports because he didn’t know any sports. When I was little, he used to take us to the playground. Every day we played some games,” Chikitha said.

The bow that started it all comes from her uncle who lives in Hyderabad. During the Dussehra vacation, he bought a recurve Decathlon bow and Chikitha started shooting arrows at a target she made in the backyard.

“It was Dussehra holidays, 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 then,” she recalled.

In 2018, Chikitha took archery seriously. She was selected for the junior camp in 2021, but the family soon realized that playing the sport would require a significant 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 million to a scam while trying to buy her first compound bow, Rao borrowed another Rs 3.5 million for new equipment. Chikita’s performance later earned her a government-funded tribute from the district collector.

The next step was to find a training environment that would match her growing ambitions. The family traveled to Delhi where Chikitha met archer Abhishek Verma. After training with him, she was selected for the SAI center in Sonepat.

“I was in school at that time. We didn’t know much about anything. Then I messaged Mr. Abhishek Verma’s wife. The lady told me to come. Then we went there and I trained for five days. They selected me to train in Sonipat,” Chikitha said.

Her workload has increased considerably in Sonepat. SAI coach Vivek Kumar told PTI that he shoots around 300 arrows a day in two sessions and regularly comes early for practice.

“She shot about 300 arrows in two sessions in a day and came to practice half an hour before the 6.30am assembly even in the freezing cold,” Kumar said.

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

“From then until now, he’s been supporting me, helping me, teaching me. He’s my inspiration,” she said.

Her father was also influenced by Saina Nehwal’s success. After the badminton player from Hyderabad won an Olympic medal, Rao became convinced that Chikitha should continue in the individual sport.

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

This girl began to establish herself at the international level and last year became the world champion of youth. She also won team silver at the 2025 World Cup and again this year.

But the period after her world title was difficult. Chikitha struggled with the shooting target and found it difficult to reproduce the performances that took her to the top of the youth category.

“Personally, I struggled last year, I faced some difficulties. After I became the world champion last year, it was very difficult for me to perform at the same level. I had problems with the shooting target,” she said.

Two medals at the Asia Cup helped her gain 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 focused and said ‘you have to do it for yourself and give it 100,'” she said.

That focus was key 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 team gold. She then returned to the mixed team final with Sahil Jadhav. The Indian pair were put in a shootout by Korea but held their nerve to secure another gold to complete a memorable debut.

Chikitha admits that meditation and breathing exercises help her manage the pressure. She follows a twice-a-day routine and says that trusting the process has helped her stay balanced during difficult times. “I do meditation and breathing exercises twice a day. I trust my process and stick with it long term,” she said.

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