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Top names joined by youngsters as India names season-opening World Cup line-up

4 February 2026

Kolkata, India

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Jyothi Surekha Vennam shooting at the Madrid 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup.

India has named a balanced squad combining experience and emerging talent for the first two stages of the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Puebla and Shanghai, following national selection trials in Kolkata.

The four-day trials also selected the team for the first leg of the Asia Cup in Bangkok.

Indian stars Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Deepika Kumari retained their places in the senior team, while Kumari’s partner and husband Atanu Das and Abhishek Verma returned to the squad after missing selection last year.

World number three Vennam enjoyed an outstanding 2025 season, winning mixed team gold and bronze with Rishabh Yadav, two women’s team silvers and an individual silver at the Shanghai 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup.

She also claimed individual bronze in Nanjing, becoming the first Indian compound woman to win an individual medal at a World Cup Final.

The 29-year-old will be joined by Berlin 2023 Hyundai World Archery Championships double gold medallist Aditi Gopichand Swami and ninth-ranked Madhura Dhamangaonkar, the surprise winner from Shanghai. Twenty-two-year-old Pragati, a member of the compound women’s under-21 team gold medal-winning squad at the Limerick 2023 World Archery Youth Championships, completes the line-up.

“To be well prepared and to give my 100% in every tournament I compete in,” said Vennam, the reigning Asian Games gold medallist in all three events (individual, team and mixed team).

India’s compound men’s team blends experience and youth, led by Abhishek Verma and 2023 world gold medallist Ojas Pravin Deotale, both returning after missing selection for the Madrid 2025 World Cup stage and the Hyundai World Archery Championships in Gwangju.

Rhine-Ruhr 2025 World University Games individual gold medallist Sahil Rajesh Jadhav topped the trials and was joined by fellow youngster Kushal Dalal. The pair, alongside Hritik Sharma, claimed compound men’s team silver in Essen last July and are set to make their World Cup debuts in April.

In the recurve women’s event, 16-year-old Kumkum Anil Mohod emerged as the standout performer, topping qualification. She was joined by Ankita Bhakat, who continued her strong form following her gold medal performance at the 2025 Asian Archery Championships in Dhaka last November.

Ranked world number 15, Bhakat stunned Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist Nam Suhyeon in a gripping five-set final to secure continental gold.

“The competition was tight as scores went high,” said Bhakat, who later won recurve women’s gold at the National Ranking Archery Tournament. “It’s good to see young players shooting amazing scores. I struggled in the ranking round but bridged the gap in the round-robin matches and the Indian round.”

The 27-year-old will be joined by former world number one Kumari and Simranjeet Kaur, with whom she claimed women’s team bronze at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.

The recurve men’s team will see the return of experienced trio Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Das, who combined to win men’s team silver at the Central Florida 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup.

The team will be strengthened by debutant Yashdeep Bhoge, a team gold medallist at the last continental championships, who finished third in the national trials. Das and Bhoge teamed with Rahul Rahul to clinch team gold in Dhaka.

“The selection trials went really well, and I’m pleased with my performance,” said 24th-ranked Das. “The team is largely unchanged, which gives us strong continuity and helps us move forward together. There were many new faces at the trials, but the positive team atmosphere remains.

“I’m looking forward to winning as many tournaments as possible in 2026.”