In Indian archery, it is often the names of Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das and Jyothi Surekha Vennam that dominate conversations among the elite performers in their respective disciplines. Deepika remains green and ice cold under pressure, as seen in the recent World Cupwhile Jyothi firmly established herself as the face of India’s composite revolution.
And then there is Rishabh Yadav.
With his unmistakable bright smile and youthful charm, Rishabh brings a fresh vibrancy to the sport that often makes India proud on the global stage. But there is one mountain Indian archery left to conquer: the Olympics.
India is still looking for its first Olympic medal in archery, with fourth place in the mixed team event at the 2024 Summer Olympics serving as its closest story. But Rishabh believes he belongs to the generation that can finally rewrite that story. Rishabh aims for Olympic glory in LA 2028 (Courtesy: Getty)
What began as a way to improve concentration on studies has now turned into a full-fledged pursuit of Olympic glory. At 23, Rishabh is already ranked seventh in the world in the men’s category and 2025 has turned out to be the best season of his young career.
He finished on the podium eight times in three competitions and multiple disciplines.
He won two individual bronze medals, secured two golds and a bronze in the men’s team category, as well as one gold, one silver and one bronze medal in the mixed teams.
With combined archery set to make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics and the Asian Games looming on the horizon, Rishabh now finds himself entering a defining stretch of his career. He hopes to culminate with an Olympic medal for India in 2028.
“I believe India is very close to changing the narrative of not winning an Olympic medal in archery as the country has made significant strides on the shooting side. Hand in hand, the backbow side is also growing. The good thing now is that with the addition of compound in the Olympics, the pressure is evenly distributed between backbow and compound. So I believe LA 2028 can be a breakthrough for Indian archery than a single day.”
LEARNING FROM YOUR IDOLS
In previous interviews, Rishabh revealed how he was inspired by Abhishek Verma’s story as a 14-year-old and gravitated towards the composite discipline. Today, he competes alongside the very man he once looked up to – and even outsprinted him to win bronze at the 2025 World Games.
Then comes his mixed team partner Jyothi, with whom he now shares the world record.
At Madrid 2025, the fourth stop of the Hyundai Archery World Cup season, Rishabh led the composite men’s qualifying order and joined Jyothi Surekha Vennam to script history. The duo combined to score 1431 points, with Rishabh contributing 716, to set a new world record in the mixed team qualification. Rishabh is ranked 7th in the world in men’s archery (Courtesy: Getty)
But the prodigy archer admitted that the moment came completely out of the blue.
“We didn’t expect it because the world record was broken during the qualifying round and the men’s and women’s races were held on different sides of the field,” he said.
So when we met at the equipment check after the competition – because there is a mandatory equipment check for the top eight athletes from both sides – we were happy to have secured the top positions in both the men’s and women’s sections and were going to compete together as a mixed team. That’s when the news came that we beat the previous world record held by Denmark by two points, scoring a combined 1,431 out of 1,440.”
Rishabh credits the Inspire Institute of Sport for helping strengthen his bond with Jyothi as the duo continue to rise together on the global stage.
“So from the first game we played together as a mixed team to now, there’s been a significant increase in how we’ve communicated with each other, as well as now training together at the Inspire Institute of Sports.”
“We were exposed to competing and training together, which definitely helped us build this strong partnership and create more strategies for teamwork,” said Rishabh.
And the biggest lessons from Jyothi and Abhishek have now become guiding principles for his own career – stay grounded, keep working and hit the road.
“Stay grounded, no matter if you’ve won anything in your life. You can always find them training on the ground even after a victory. The process never stops for them.”
“You keep working on other things. What happened, happened. If it’s good, it’s very good. If it’s not good, well, you learn from it and move forward. The other thing I learned from them, which is very important, is that you should enjoy the journey, be happy about it. It’s not a pressure or a job to look up to. It’s something you enjoy. It’s something you enjoy.”
BE IN ZEN MODE
In archery, where the slightest lapse in concentration can separate glory from heartbreak, poise becomes everything. And for Rishabh, peace begins with something as simple as breathing.
“I would always focus on my breath and that’s not something we stimulate during competition. It’s something we try to do in practice as well, by doing different drills, different exercises to keep calm in those situations,” said Rishabh.
The Inspire Institute of Sport once again played a major role in shaping not only his game, but also his mindset off the field.
“Inspire Institute of Sports has many high performing directors in various fields like strength and conditioning, physiological, psychological and nutritional. So all these branches of sports are very important for athletes to maintain or like progress in their training. So that is something that helps us grow a lot. They have experience, they have worked with many Olympic athletes and Olympic champions like Neeraj Rishabh,” he also said.
Off the field, Rishabh finds his peace in the simplest of things – breathing exercises, reading books, photography and long walks around the IIS campus. Mostly because, as he says, he just can’t stand sitting still.
“Outside of archery, I really enjoy breathing and reading books, as well as nature photography or something like that. I can’t sit in a room and stay still.”
“I would just go out and explore where I am. Like now I’m here at Inspire Institute of Sports, so I’d rather go out for a walk than sit in my room. Seeing other people competing like swimmers and other athletes is very motivating for me,” said Rishabh.
OLYMPIC HUSTEL
Rishabh’s journey to the Olympics will be through next year’s Asian Games and his focus is already on fine-tuning the physical side of the game ahead of the biggest challenge of his career so far.
He believes his technical game continues to fall into place, which is why strength and conditioning has now become his biggest priority.
“I’m more focused on my physical aspect, like the strength and conditioning part of my body, which is one part I’m focusing more on because we’ve pretty much got the technical part figured out and we’re always growing on that side.”
“So I wanted to deliver and have a strength and conditioning program to help me grow from that and achieve the goals that I’m looking forward to. And again, the long-term goal that we have is two years ahead. I believe we’re working on those aspects now so that we can see results from the start of 2027 and have a good result at the LA 2028 Olympics,” said Rishabh.
And when Rishabh talks about Olympic success, his eyes are firmly on the mixed team event – a discipline he believes can finally break the Olympic curse of Indian archery.
Rather than chasing individual glory, he wants to be part of the team that brings India its long-awaited medal moment.
“In Olympics, we have mixed team event. It’s all about mixed team event. And in Asian Games, it’s also mixed team qualification. So I would like to focus on one particular event and if I have to be in mixed team, I have to be the best player from the country to play. So that also contributes to my Olympic and individual success at the end,” concluded Rishabh.
