Jyothi Surekha Vennam (born 3 July 1996) is an Indian compound

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

. She has won multiple gold medals in the compound archery event at the

Archery World Cup The Archery World Cup is a competition organized by World Archery, where the archers compete in four stages in four countries and the best eight archers of each category (from 2010, four archers during 2006–09) advance to an additional stage to ...

World Archery Championships The World Archery Championships are a series of competitions in Archery organised by the World Archery Federation. The first competition held under that title took place in 1931. Competition archery takes a wide variety of formats, but the titl ...

and

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

. In 2023, she became the first Indian archer to win a gold medal at the World Archery Championships and multiple gold medals at the Asian Games. She was awarded the

Arjuna award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

, India's second highest sporting honor in 2017 becoming the youngest from

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

to win the award.

Early life

Jyothi was born in Challapalli in

Krishna district Krishna district is a district in the Coastal Andhra region in Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, with Machilipatnam as its administrative headquarters. It is surrounded on the East by Bay of Bengal, West by Guntur district, Guntur, Bapatla distric ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

to Vennam Surendra Kumar and Sri Durga. Her father is a former Kabaddi player and a veterinary doctor in

Vijayawada Vijayawada ( ), formerly known by its colonial name Bezawada, is the second largest city and a major commercial hub in the Andhra Pradesh state of India. The city forms an integral part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is situated on th ...

. Initially, she started training for

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

from the age of 3. In 2001, Jyothi swam 5 km across the

Krishna River The Krishna River in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau is the third-longest in India, after the Ganga, Ganga and Godavari. It is also the fourth-largest in terms of water inflows and river basin area in India, after the Ganga, Indus and Godav ...

in three hours, 20 minutes and six seconds and became the youngest to do so entering the ''

Limca Book of Records The ''Limca Book of Records'' is an annual reference book published in India documenting world records held by Indians. The records are further categorised into education, literature, agriculture, medical science, business, sports, nature, adve ...

''. Jyothi completed her schooling from Nalanda Vidya Niketan, Vijayawada. She did her B.Tech. and

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

KL University K L University also known as Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation is a higher educational institution Deemed to be University, located in Vaddeswaram, near Vijayawada, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. Established in 1980 as a college of engi ...

Career

Jyoti started practicing archery from the age of 11, participating in various tournaments at the junior level. In 2011, she won a bronze medal at the 2011 Asian Archery Championships held in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. In 2013, She won two bronze medals at the

2013 World Archery Youth Championships The 2013 World Archery Youth Championships was the 13th edition of World Archery Youth Championships. The event was held in Wuxi, China 13–20 October 2013, and was organised by World Archery. Junior events were held for those under 20, and Cadet ...

held at

Wuxi Wuxi ( zh, s=无锡, p=Wúxī, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu, China. As of the 2024 census, it had a population of 7,495,000. The city lies in the southern Yangtze delta and borders Lake Tai. Notable landmarks include Lihu Park, the Mt. Lings ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. She had competed in five

Asian Archery Championships Asian Archery Championships is the archery championship organized by the World Archery Asia. It has been held biannually, and since 2001 has included both the recurve and compound disciplines. The tournament began in 1980 and it was first hos ...

winning four gold, four silver and two bronze medals. She have also competed in multiple

s winning five gold, four silver and seven bronze medals. She won three silver medals in the

2021 World Archery Championships The 2021 World Archery Championships was held from 20 to 26 September 2021 in Yankton, South Dakota, Yankton, United States. Medals table Medals summary Recurve Compound References External links Results Book
{{World championships ...

becoming the first Indian to do so and has won one gold, four silver and three bronze medals in the

. 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. In 2023, Jyoti won three gold medals in the

2022 Asian Games The 2022 Asian Games (), officially the 19th Asian Games () and also known as Hangzhou 2022 ( zh, c=, s=杭州2022, labels=no), were a continental multi-sport event which was held from 23 September to 8 October 2023 in Hangzhou, China. The ...

becoming the first Indian to win multiple gold medals in archery.

Awards and accolades

*''Pratibha Puraskar'' by

Government of Andhra Pradesh The Government of Andhra Pradesh, abbreviated as GoAP, is the Administrative division, state government and the administrative body responsible for the governance of the States of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Amaravati is the capital ...

(2001) *''Exceptional Achievement Award'' by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

(2002) *''Golden Target award'' by

World Archery Federation World Archery (WA, formerly ''Fédération Internationale de Tir à l'Arc'' (FITA)) is the governing body of the sport of archery. It is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is composed of 156 national federations and other archery associations, a ...

(2013) *

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

(2017) * TOISA Archer of the Year'' by

Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

(2021) In 2017, then

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is the chief executive of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with the ch ...

Chandrababu Naidu Nara Chandrababu Naidu (; born 20 April 1950), commonly known as CBN, is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 13th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He holds the record of longest-serving Chief Minister in the political history ...

awarded her a cash prize of INR 1 crore along with a housing site of 500 sq. yards in

Amaravati Amaravati ( , Telugu language, Telugu: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Guntur district on the right bank of the Krishna River, southwest of Vijayawada. The city derives its name from the nearby his ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vennam, Jyothi Surekha 1996 births Indian female archers Sportswomen from Andhra Pradesh Living people Asian Games medalists in archery Archers at the 2014 Asian Games Archers at the 2018 Asian Games Archers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games Sportswomen from Vijayawada, India Summer World University Games medalists in archery Archers from Andhra Pradesh Universiade medalists for India Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade World Archery Championships medalists World Games bronze medalists World Games medalists for India World Games medalists in archery Medalists at the 2022 World Games 21st-century Indian women