The Indian men’s compound team, consisting of Rishabh Yadav, Aman Saini, and Prathamesh Fuge, secured the gold medal at the World Archery Championships 2025 held in Gwangju, Republic of Korea, on Sunday.
This victory marks India’s first gold medal in the men’s compound archery team event. In the compound mixed team event, which is set to debut at the LA 2028 Olympics, Rishabh Yadav and Jyothi Surekha Vennam achieved a silver medal.
The second-seeded Indian men’s team displayed exceptional determination, overcoming a first-set deficit of 59-57 to defeat the fifth-seeded French team, comprising Nicolas Girard, Jean Philippe Boulch, and François Dubois, with a final score of 235-233.
This triumph concluded an impressive series of matches where the Indian men’s team came from behind in all four encounters.
After receiving a bye in the first round, they narrowly defeated Australia in a shoot-off with a score of 232(30)-232(28), progressed past the USA with a score of 234-233 in the quarter-finals, and then triumphed over the third-seeded Turkiye with a score of 234-232 in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, the top-seeded South Korean team was unexpectedly eliminated by Slovenia in the quarter-finals.
Rishabh Yadav, who made his World Championships debut at the age of 23, was the standout performer for India during the qualification round, finishing eighth with a score of 709 points, and he maintained this form in the mixed event.
Teaming up with Jyothi, India’s top-ranked compound female archer and the No. 3 qualifier with 707 points, Rishabh led India to victories against Germany (160-152), El Salvador (157-153), and Chinese Taipei (157-155) to reach the gold medal match.
In the final against the Netherlands, India started strong, leading 39-38 after the first set, but ultimately lost 157-155, earning a silver medal.
For Jyothi, aged 29, this was her second mixed team silver at the World Championships, following her podium finish with Abhishek Verma at Yankton 2021.
However, her journey concluded prematurely in the women’s team event. The third-seeded trio of Jyothi, Parneet Kaur, and Prithika Pradeep faced a 229-233 defeat against the 14th-seeded Italian team in the pre-quarterfinals, ending their hopes of defending their title from Berlin 2023.
A total of 500 archers from 74 nations and regions are participating for the title of world champions in Gwangju. The archery event is set to conclude on September 11.