Know Your Asian Games Girls – Archer Jyothi Surekha

Jyothi Surekha is one fierce sports star who makes a sport like archery look like a piece of cake. The 22-year-old champ from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, is one of India’s best compound archers. She will be a part of the women’s team, gearing up to bring more glory to the nation during the Asian Games in Indonesia. Very recently Indian women’s compound team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Trisha Deb, P Lily Chanu, Muskan Kirar, Divya Dhayal and Madhumita, scripted history at Berlin where they defeated Chinese Taipei to reach the final. The team made a quick jump from the fifth position all the way at the top in July.

Here's why we should be watching out for this star archer.

How archery happened

Jyothi is a Computer Science graduate, currently pursuing an MBA and balancing professional archery along with it.

Swimming was her first love. At four, Jyothi entered in the Limca Book of Records when she crossed the Krishna River three times, a distance of 5 km in three hours, 20 minutes and six seconds. Since then she has been winning numerous national and international competitions, had has a 70-medal haul to her credit. While winning a gold medal in Olympics is the ultimate dream, Jyothi indulged in archery after her parents pushed her into it.

Surekha, a discovery of former India coach Ch. Lenin, first came into the spotlight at the age of 13 when she won five medals, including the Olympic round gold in the Mexican Grand Prix held in Mexico. She also grabbed three silvers and a bronze in the FITA round in the same tour. In 2011, she bagged two bronze medals at the 2011 Asian Archery Championship.

READ MORE On Women At Asian Games

Career highlight

• Surekha was the youngest ever to win the prestigious Arjuna award from South India for her excellence in the field of archery in 2017.
• In April, she won the bronze medal at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai alongside Abhishek Verma.
• At the Berlin World Cup, she won three silver medals in the women’s team event and bronze in the mixed team. With this win, she ensured her entry into the World Cup Finals which are scheduled to take place in September in Samsun, Turkey.
• Jyothi has represented India in many international events and now boasts of 27 medals which include seven gold and six silver medals.

READ: Five-Year-Old Shivani Creates Two New Archery Records

She was in the news for declaring an indefinite hunger strike in her hometown Vijayawada. As per reports, the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh's delayed a payment of Rs 1 crore cash prize promised to her by the state government.

Women’s archery is scheduled to take place at GBK Archery Field between 22 – 28 August. India has never won an archery medal before. But with this talent pool, India will make history.

SheThePeople.TV wishes all athletes best of luck at the upcoming Asian Games

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Feature Image Credit: Sportskeeda

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