Two gold medals, 14 hours and then a miss: Chikitha Taniparthi’s Asian Games journey

India’s Chikitha Taniparthi in action during her compound women’s individual quarterfinals match against Indonesia’s Nurisa Dian Ashrifah. | Photo Credit: Reuters

At the start of the final series of her women’s individual compound quarterfinal, Chikitha Taniparthi looked set to advance to the semifinals. Conditions at 9 am in Nagoya’s park were bright and sunny, a contrast to the drizzle and wind of the previous days.

At the start of the competition, she had trailed Indonesia’s Nurisa Dian Ashrifa by two points three arrows ago, but now, after her opponent had shot two arrows of the penultimate series into the red ring, she was one point up.

All that changed when, on her very first arrow of the final series, Chikitha’s shot landed in the 8-ring — almost close to the 7-ring — around where the 11 o’clock position on a clock face would be.

Chikitha looked embarrassed. In elite compound archery, a 9 can be considered an error; matches can be decided by a single point. This time, she had almost hit a 7. She turned towards her coach. He remained expressionless.

It was a sobering result for Chikitha, who only the previous day had become India’s first double gold medallist at these Games when she won women’s team and mixed-team gold. There would be no third. Dian shot three straight tens to win by one point, 144-143. In her first match of the day, Chikitha’s tournament was over.

On Wednesday, it seemed her day would never end. Her day had started at 4 am as she prepared for an early morning event — the semifinals in the women’s team event at around 9.30 am — and later won her second gold in the mixed-team event.

On both occasions, she passed through the mixed zone, where accredited media are permitted to speak to athletes. She then left the venue for interviews with electronic media, who are not permitted to conduct video interviews in the mixed zone. It was around 3pm by this point.

In the middle of that, a physio was observed telling the media: “She’s not eaten since the morning.” Athletes prefer not to compete on a full stomach because of the fear of cramps. “Let her eat something and then she’ll come back.”

Once that was done, there were social-media commitments as well. Through it all, Chikitha appeared increasingly frustrated.

Yet she agreed to every request.

A member of the team support staff was eventually heard reminding her that her competition was not over.

“I’m not telling you what to do, but you have a match tomorrow as well,” Chikitha was told.

By then, she had been on her feet for around 14 hours. She eventually left the venue at around 6.30 pm, after which she would have had to return to her hotel, eat, change, rest and prepare to do it all over again the next day.

It was not ideal.

“I would prefer my athletes remain as focussed on competition as possible,” compound archery coach David Cousins told Sportstar.

But Cousins also knows that the Asian Games are not an ideal world. With India struggling to add to its gold-medal tally, Chikitha’s performance was bound to attract considerable media attention.

“I know it’s a peak moment,” he said of Chikitha’s two gold medals. “The more you accomplish, the bigger an issue it becomes. We have to do our best and keep them focussed. First, we need to let them enjoy the moment, but they know when to get back.”

Cousins says the team is trained to expect any kind of condition when travelling for competitions.

“Things are never going to be exactly the same. You don’t want to be in a comfort zone. Things are always changing. You want to be comfortable in chaos,” he said.

But perhaps not all chaos is necessary.

At the athletics events, for instance, Gulveer Singh excused himself from speaking to the media after winning silver in the men’s 10,000m. He also declined interviews after winning his second medal in the 1,500m, apologising and explaining that he was preparing for his third event.

The same was true of Vithya Ramraj, who won three medals at the Games. She spoke in the mixed zone but was able to keep her focus on her remaining event, giving the media more time only after her final event, the women’s 4x400m relay.

Both Gulveer and Vithya, however, had competed at a Games before. Chikitha was experiencing it for the first time.

It may also be harder for athletes from less privileged backgrounds to make such choices for themselves.

“She was being kept even longer. And finally, we had to step in and make her leave the venue. Ultimately, we have to make her comfortable saying no,” said Joris Paulose Ummacheril, treasurer of the Archery Association of India, who was in Nagoya.

Chikitha will eventually learn how to handle such moments.

“We are learning and evolving every day,” said Cousins.

Chikitha’s campaign may not have ended with the third gold she had hoped for, but her two titles had already accomplished the bigger goal.

“We came here to get the Olympic quota by winning the mixed-team gold, and we did just that,” Cousins said.

Published on Oct 01, 2026

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