New Delhi, Sep 10 — Triple gold medallist from the 2022 Asian Games, Jyothi Surekha Vennam wants to keep the focus on herself and her performances and not let her success at the Asian Games get to her mind as she prepares for the upcoming continental showpiece in Aichi-Nagoya, which begins on September 19.
Jyothi is a crucial member of India's new-look archery squad for the Asian Games 2026 with the likes of husband-and-wife pair Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das, as well as Abhishek Verma and Ojas Pravin Deotale, set to miss the upcoming continental showpiece.
Jyothi, a compound archer, is a well-established name in Indian archery, having won medals in each of her previous three Asian Games. She won a bronze and a silver in the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games and marked a stellar Hangzhou Games in 2023 when the Andhra Pradesh-born archer won three gold medals - one each in the individual, team and mixed events.
As she approaches her fourth Asiad, Jyothi is not looking to let the pressure get to her head as she looks to put all the focus on herself and her performance in the continental showpiece.
"The preparation is really good, like we are working really hard as a team and yeah, we are fully focused on giving our best at the Asian Games this time too," Jyothi told IANS in an exclusive interaction.
"Right now, my entire focus is on myself, as in me performing my best at the Asian Games and not chasing scores or not chasing the results because for a reason, I know that if I have the confidence in me that if I shoot really good or execute my shot really well, I'll be having really great scores," she added.
Jyothi will have a new-look women's compound team with her for the Asian Games, with the likes of Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep joining Jyothi and Parneet Kaur for the Asian Games 2026 in the women's compound team.
The Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) athlete reflected on how the new team has been together now and is gunning for success. "So yeah, for us, the selection for the Asian Games was done in May, like it was completed in May, and we had the two tournaments, two World Cup stages to compete in before going in for the Asian Games.
"So, I think we have improved up to now (in terms of gelling together), and I think we have a bond between us which we share and we are there for each other no matter what the situation is to support each other and we are there to fight till our very last arrow at the Games," she said.
Compound archery is all set to make its debut at the upcoming Olympic Games, and Jyothi would be one of the leading names for a place in that, although the qualifications have not been confirmed for the Los Angeles Games for now. Jyothi does not want to look too far ahead to the LA 2028 and is looking to focus on the current results.
"Well, as I said, right now our entire focus is on performing our best and not going behind the results. I know for sure, in the back of my mind, we have the Olympics as a target from here, but I think at least for me, what I would like to say is I just want to live in that moment and just give my best at that point in time because I don't want to have any kind of regret that I could have done things in a better way or in another way.
"I don't want to have that feeling. So yeah, just for me right now, it is just to be in that moment," she concluded.