Dave Cousins settling in as head coach of India’s compound team

In May, the Archery Association of India appointed the USA’s Dave Cousins as their chief compound archery coach. 

It is the 49-year-old’s first international coaching appointment, after a long and successful career which saw him become the 1999 and 2003 World Champion, as well as World Field Champion, World 3D Champion and World Games champion.

“India's talent and depth of field is well-documented. They've had a successful program going on a 25-year run or so since its inception. So the biggest thing for me to do is not to make sweeping changes.”

“To be instilled with that level of trust and oversight to be part of a program that's already well established is a tremendous honour,” said Cousins.

“It‘s going to be an adjustment, learning how to correctly funnel my passion because I see them on the line and I still want to be there. But being in the position now to hopefully inspire someone else or the next generation to achieve their accomplishments, that's fantastic. That's all I want.”

It is understood that his contract will continue until the LA28 Olympic Games, where the compound mixed team event will be contested for the first time.

The role is full-time and based in Sonipat, near Delhi, at the national Excellence Centre, although the Madrid 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup stage 4 is his first overseas assignment with India. 

“A success for us [here in Madrid] would be being committed to the process, trusting the process, continuing to build those athletes and coaching staff relationships.”

“We're going to be working on streamlining an entire process, developing and installing a program from inception of an archer to world class athlete so that everybody's on the same page. So that's a huge undertaking, and the majority of that work for me will happen off the field.”

For India, this will be a key part of the preparation for the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026, where they will try to defend compound titles in all five individual and team categories, as well as focusing on gaining two Olympic spots for the LA28 Olympic Games.

Cousins is the second Western coach appointed to a major Asian archery nation this year, after former India coach Sergio Pagni was appointed head coach of the Korean compound team.