Jyothi Surekha

Jyothi Surekha Vennam, born on 3 July 1996, is an Indian archer specializing in the compound discipline—an event not yet in the Olympics but set to debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. She has claimed gold at the World Championships, World Cup, Asian Games, and Asian Championships. In 2025, alongside Rishabh Yadav, she set a mixed team world record of 1431 at that year’s World Cup.

Early life and education

Hailing from Challapalli in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, she is the daughter of Vennam Surendra Kumar, a former Kabaddi player and veterinary doctor, and Sri Durga. She began swimming at age three, and in 2001, at just five years old, she swam 5 kilometers across the Krishna River in three hours, twenty minutes, and six seconds, becoming the youngest to enter the Limca Book of Records. She completed her schooling at Nalanda Vidya Niketan in Vijayawada, then earned a B.Tech. and an MBA from Koneru Lakshmaiah University.

Career

Surekha took up archery at age 11, competing at junior levels. In 2011, she won a bronze at the Asian Archery Championships in Tehran. Two years later, she secured two bronze medals at the World Archery Youth Championships in Wuxi, China. Across five Asian Archery Championships, she has collected four gold, four silver, and two bronze medals.

At multiple Archery World Cups, her tally stands at five gold, four silver, and seven bronze. At the 2021 World Archery Championships, she became the first Indian to win three silver medals; overall, she has one gold, four silver, and three bronze from World Championships. In January 2022, she topped the Women’s Open Pro event at the Lancaster Archery Classic in Pennsylvania. At the 2022 Asian Games (held in 2023), she won three gold medals, becoming the first Indian to achieve multiple golds in archery.

Awards and accolades

Her honors include the Pratibha Puraskar from the Government of Andhra Pradesh (2001), an Exceptional Achievement Award from the Government of India (2002), the Golden Target Award from the World Archery Federation (2013), the Arjuna Award (2017), the TOISA Archer of the Year (2021), and ESPN India’s Female Athlete of the Year. In 2017, then Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu awarded her a cash prize of INR 1 crore and a 500-square-yard housing site in Vijayawada or Amaravati.