Who is Aditi Swami? Meet the archer who helped India win the compound team gold medal at Asian Games 2023

A nail-biting final in the women's compound team event saw India clinch the gold medal with the smallest of margins at the 2023 Asian Games.

On Thursday, October 5, in Hangzhou, China, the Indian women's team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swami, and Parneet Kaur showed great resilience to deliver a flawless performance under pressure.

The trio, who are also the reigning world champions, scored a perfect 60 out of 60 in the last end to beat third seeds Taiwan to top honors by one point. The final score read 230-229 in India's favor.

This is India's second archery gold medal at the ongoing Asian Games, following Jyothi and Ojas Deotale emerging victorious in the compound mixed team event on Wednesday.

With a total of five medals in archery at the quadrennial event, It is also India's best performance in the sport across all editions. Their previous best was three medals (one gold, one silver, and one bronze) secured in 2014 in Incheon, South Korea.

Previously, Surekha, Aditi, and Parneet beat fourth seeds Indonesia (Ratih Zilizati Fadhly, Syahara Khoerunisa, and Sri Ranti) 233-219 in the semifinals, and defeated Hong Kong 231-220 in the quarterfinals.

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Who is Aditi Swami?

Aditi Gopichand Swami hails the Satara district in the state of Maharashtra. Her love for archery began at the age of 10 when she came across the sport at an event at Shahu Stadium in Satara.

Aditi hails from the village of Sherewadi, which is about 15 km from Satara. To help her pursue her sporting goals, her father took a loan and they all relocated to Satara.

The 17-year-old began by practicing with the Indian before switching to the compound discipline. She has had a prodigious rise in archery, winning the district medal and qualified to represent Maharashtra in an inter-school tournament in 2017. A year later, on her national debut, she took home the silver medal.

Aditi won her first national individual gold medal at a sub-junior event in Amravati in 2021. Later that year, she qualified for the senior nationals in Jammu and Kashmir and won the team a silver medal.

She made her international debut at the Asia Cup leg 1 in Phuket in March last year, where she helped the team win the silver medal. Later, she helped the Indian team win the gold medals in Iraq and Sharjah.

Her first individual medal came in Sharjah when she clinched the silver after losing 142-144 to compatriot Pragati.

Aditi's biggest success came at the World Championship in Berlin, where she won an individual gold medal, which made her the youngest archer to become a world champion across various events.

The teenager has added another feather to her cap by winning the women's compound team gold medal at the ongoing Asian Games.