Behind India’s first double gold medallist in Nagoya, Chikitha Taniparthi, is a father who bet the farm on her

Chikitha Taniparthi speaks to her parents over a video call after winning her second gold medal at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

At the heart of Chikitha Taniparthi’s journey to a double gold at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Wednesday is a father who quite literally bet the farm on her.

Late September is paddy-sowing season in Sultanpur village, near Peddapalli in Telangana’s Karimnagar district. Early on Wednesday morning, Srinivas Rao was bent over his three-acre plot, carefully transplanting saplings into the ankle-deep mud. If Srinivas was sowing, 10,000 kilometres away in Nagoya, Japan, his daughter was reaping. It’s a rich harvest of gold.

On Wednesday afternoon, 21-year-old Chikitha Taniparthi became India’s first double gold medallist at the 2026 Asian Games. In the morning, she, alongside Prithika Pradeep and Jyothi Surekha Vennam, won the women’s compound team event at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Multipurpose Park. An hour later, she was back on the podium. This time, she had won mixed team gold alongside Sahil Jadhav, which also secured India a quota place in the compound mixed team event at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Srinivas didn’t watch his daughter make history. Because he couldn’t. “I couldn’t watch her match. We don’t have a TV at our home. I also don’t have video or a camera on my phone,” he tells Sportstar on his basic Nokia handheld. He does know what she’s accomplished. “A friend of mine was watching the match. He kept calling me with updates. When he called me and said she has won the team event, I was very happy. Then he called me again and said she’s won another gold. I was very happy with that also. It would have been nice to see the match, but I have my fields to work in. I needed to plant and also run the motor,” he says.

Perhaps Srinivas could buy a phone. Even a basic one now costs a few thousand rupees. But Srinivas, who hasn’t bought a new shirt in a year and has the clean-shaven face, dark skin and lean features of someone who has spent a lifetime working in the sun, is a frugal man. “Too much expense. Small phone is fine,” he says. The money is better spent on the farm.

The field Srinivas tends so carefully is what has made India’s double gold on Wednesday possible.

Chikitha Taniparthi with her father Srinivas Rao, who borrowed money and bet his farm on her archery dream. His gamble has now yielded two Asian Games gold medals in Nagoya. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Eight years ago, Srinivas faced a dilemma. Chikitha needed a bow. It’s a Hoyt Concept X, interestingly enough, the same model she is shooting in Japan. It cost Rs. 3.5 lakh. Srinivas hadn’t seen that much money in one place.

He went to the local moneylender. He got the money. The collateral was his farm’s produce. The interest was 2 per cent a month. Every month. There was no hope of paying it back until the harvest, which was at least a third of the year away.

It was steep, but he agreed. Chikitha got her bow. Srinivas says he handed the bow over with a smile on his face, but it only masked his worry. “That year I prayed so hard. God, give me good rain. Give me a good harvest so I can pay back my loans,” he remembers thinking. He also prayed for Chikitha. “Please, God, let her achieve what she needs to, “ he says.

Srinivas always wanted to be a sportsperson. He played volleyball. But he never competed, even outside his district. “I always wanted to be a sportsperson, but I couldn’t. Not enough money. But I always wanted to make my children sportspersons. I knew what the Olympics are. It would be nice if my children could go there, “ he says.

It was a fanciful dream for a farmer who had three acres of land, whose produce depended not just on his hard work but on the vagaries of weather. It wasn’t just Srinivas who worked in the fields; his whole family did. But Srinivas dared to dream.

He first thought about karate. Too much politics. He thought about taking his daughter to play badminton in Hyderabad. He had read stories of Saina Nehwal. That was ruefully ruled out as well. Hyderabad is 180 kilometres from his home. Too far away, and anyway, how was he going to afford Chikitha’s stay?

Chikitha Taniparthi with her family. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Then one day he saw an article on archery published in his local newspaper. There was even information about an academy 20 kilometres away from his village. He took her there. The first bow he bought for his 13-year-old daughter was a hobby recurve bow, the kind you find at a Decathlon store. It cost Rs. 5,000. And it wasn’t the right one. Chikitha’s coach told him to get a compound bow. The numbers and specifications didn’t make a lot of sense. He bought a child’s compound bow. It cost Rs. 30,000. Both expenses came from money he didn’t have. “I had borrowed money from my family, “ he recalls.

It was a steep expense, and a wasted one. The child’s compound bow looked right. It had pulleys, drawstring, cables and triggers. But it had no power. It was of no use during competitions. “ I didn’t know anything about poundage or draw length or anything. I was just taken advantage of, “ he says.

Rather than cut his losses, he doubled down. He went for the Hoyt. By now, his family had decided they weren’t lending him any more money for what they considered his crazy hopes. So he went to the only place where desperate men get money at exorbitant rates.

It was a gamble, but it came through. The rains arrived on time. The harvest was plentiful. Both in the fields and from Chikitha’s bow. She won a State meet for Under-14 children and, armed with the medals, Srinivas marched his daughter to the district collector’s office. “I told them my daughter is special. You need to support her, “ he recalls. They would, providing more equipment and kit.

But Srinivas wanted more. Chikitha needed more than just equipment. “I wanted to see her at the biggest platform,” he says. She needed proper training that she wasn’t going to get in rural Telangana. He found out that there was a senior player who was helpful. He got hold of former Indian compound archer Abhishek Verma’s number and called him. “He put me off two or three times, but I kept calling him. Finally, he said to bring Chikitha to Delhi, and he would take a look,” he says.

A train ride to the capital. Hotel stay. Food bills. More costs. Another loan. He took it. Abhishek saw Chikitha. She was genuinely good. In 2021, he helped get her entry into Sports Authority of India’s National Centre of Excellence in Sonepat, Haryana. It was meant as a trial period for potentially talented youngsters. If she wasn’t good enough, she would be weeded out. She never was. She still trains at the centre today.

She would win medals at the Nationals and make international squads too. She competed at last year’s Youth World Championship, World Cups and the Asia Cup this year. Keeping track of all of this is Srinivas. He tries to make sure that Chikitha gets her due.

“You talk to the government, sir. They haven’t given her the incentives for winning all those medals. Tell them they should give it,” he says.

Things are easier financially for Srinivas and his daughter these days. Hoyt, the company whose bow her father once mortgaged his farm to purchase, now provides her with one to use for free. Another sponsor of hers has even sent someone with a tablet so that Srinivas and his wife can make a video call with their daughter on Wednesday evening.

“Go and concentrate for tomorrow, “ he tells her. Chikitha could potentially win a third medal in the individual event on Thursday. It’s a short call, but it means everything. “Everything I am is because of my father, “ she tells Sportstar.

And you can be sure that with a double Asian Games gold medal, there will be a windfall from officials who had previously tightly held purse strings. It’s more than enough money for Srinivas to finally get a phone. Or a TV. He plans to do neither. He eventually relents. “When she goes to the Olympics, I’ll get a phone with video. It will be good to watch her there,” he says.

Published on Sep 30, 2026

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