Jyothi Surekha
Indian archer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jyothi Surekha Vennam (born 3 July 1996) is an Indian archer.[3] She competes in the compound discipline, a non-Olympic event debuting at the 2028 LA Olympics. She has won gold medals at the World Championships, World Cup, Asian Games and the Asian Championships. In 2025, she and Rishabh Yadav set the mixed team world record with a score of 1431 at the 2025 World Cup.[4]
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Early life and education
Surekha was born in Challapalli in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh to Vennam Surendra Kumar and Sri Durga.[1] Her father is a former Kabaddi player and a veterinary doctor in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.[3]
She started swimming at the age of 3. In 2001, she swam 5 km across the Krishna River in three hours, 20 minutes and six seconds and became the youngest to enter the Limca Book of Records.[5] Jyothi completed her schooling from Nalanda Vidya Niketan, Vijayawada. She did her B.Tech. and MBA at Koneru Lakshmaiah University, a deemed university.[6][7]
Career
Surekha started practicing archery from the age of 11, participating in various tournaments at the junior level.[1] In 2011, she won a bronze medal at the 2011 Asian Archery Championships held in Tehran, Iran.[8] In 2013, She won two bronze medals at the 2013 World Archery Youth Championships held at Wuxi, China.[9][10] She had competed in five Asian Archery Championships winning four gold, four silver and two bronze medals. She have also competed in multiple Archery World Cups winning five gold, four silver and seven bronze medals.[1]
She won three silver medals in the 2021 World Archery Championships becoming the first Indian to do so and has won one gold, four silver and three bronze medals in the World Archery Championships.[11][1] In January 2022, she finished in first place in the Women’s Open Pro event at the Lancaster Archery Classic held near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States.[12] In 2023, Jyoti won three gold medals in the 2022 Asian Games becoming the first Indian to win multiple gold medals in archery.[13]
Awards and accolades
- Pratibha Puraskar by Government of Andhra Pradesh (2001)[7]
- Exceptional Achievement Award by Government of India (2002)[7]
- Golden Target award by World Archery Federation (2013)[7]
- Arjuna Award by Government of India (2017)[14][7]
- TOISA Archer of the Year by Times of India (2021)[15]
- ESPN India's Female Athlete of the Year.[16]
In 2017, then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu awarded her a cash prize of INR 1 crore (10 million) along with a housing site of 500 sq. yards in Vijayawada or Amaravati.[17]
