Andhra Pradesh athletes secure three golds and one bronze at Asian Games 2026
Athletes from Andhra Pradesh secured three gold medals and a bronze at the Asian Games in Japan on Wednesday (September 30, 2026), with successes coming in archery, cricket and badminton. The State’s nine-strong contingent includes players across archery, badminton, cricket and athletics, officials said.
The nine competitors, according to Ramana, Section Officer (Associations), Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh, are badminton players P.V. Sindhu, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Kidambi Srikanth and Kavipriya Selvam; cricketer Sree Charani; archers Dhiraj Bommadevara, Thirumuru Ganesh Mani Ratnam and Jyothi Surekha Vennam; and hurdler Jyothi Yarraji. Archery provided multiple golds on the same day, while the men’s badminton squad added a bronze.
On Wednesday in Okazaki City, India completed a sweep of the three compound archery team titles. Jyothi Surekha Vennam teamed with Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep to beat China 238-234, equalling the world record; Ganesh Maniratnam Thirumuru joined Kushal Dalal and Sahil Jadhav to edge China 238-237 after overcoming South Korea in the semi-final.
President Droupadi Murmu praised the women’s team, saying their “precision, composure and teamwork have made the nation proud”. Of the men’s win she added, “Completing a clean sweep of Gold across all three Compound Team events, Indian archery has achieved a remarkable feat.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the women’s win “is even more special because their performance also equalled the World Record”, and Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya called the men’s gold “a proud moment for Indian archery and for the entire nation”.
State leaders also offered congratulatory remarks. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said Ganesh’s “path from Naidupeta to international glory stands as a testament to what focus and hard work can accomplish”. Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan said the women’s team had “brought the Tricolour to the highest podium”, and IT Minister Nara Lokesh described Ganesh’s journey as “a matter of immense pride for our State”.
For Jyothi Surekha, Wednesday’s gold is her sixth medal across four consecutive Asian Games: four gold, one silver and one bronze. Her father, Surendra Kumar, speaking from Vijayawada, said “Her experience is a major advantage,” and recounted that she began swimming as a child, swam across the Krishna at five — a feat recorded in the Limca Book of Records — and took up archery at 12; “Because we have seen her go through that experience from childhood, her achievements do not seem entirely unexpected to us,” he said.
The Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada, run by Cherukuri Satyanarayana, has produced several of the State’s leading archers, Mr. Satyanarayana said; he is Vice-President of the Archery Association of India and chairman of the A.P. Archery Association and attributed the archers’ success to discipline, concentration and timing. Among the academy’s trainees, Dhiraj Bommadevara set an Asian Games record of 698 in the recurve ranking round and advanced to the individual quarter-finals and the team semi-final.
The men’s badminton team secured bronze after losing 3-1 to China in the semi-final at Ichinomiya; every member of the squad, including Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Kidambi Srikanth, receives a medal, Mr. Ramana said.