– Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

Satara (Maharashtra)-based Aditi Swami (17) returned home to a hero’s welcome after winning gold and bronze medals in her debut in the compound archery team and individual events at the XIX Asian Games 2023, which concluded in Hangzhou (China) in early October. Aditi went well-prepared for Hangzhou. In August, she was the youngest winner of an individual gold at the World Archery Championships in Berlin.

The only child of Gopichand Swami, a government school maths teacher, and Shaila, a municipal worker, Aditi is disappointed she didn’t bag an individual gold at the Asian Games. “Although it was a proud moment for me to share the stage with my senior Jyothi Surekha Vennam, who won gold in the event, I was disappointed with my performance. But I’m confident that I will do better next time,” says Aditi, a class XII student of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Junior College, Satara.

A Khelo India and Indian Oil scholarships awardee, Aditi was introduced to archery at age ten at a multi-sports event she attended with her father at Satara’s Shahu Stadium. The power of the traditional bow and arrow fascinated her. Encouraged by her father, she met coach Pravin Sawant who runs the Drushti Archery Academy in Satara. “Although Pravin was concerned about her slender physique, he was highly impressed with her concentration level,” recalls father Gopichand, who took a bank loan to relocate to Satara from their native village to enable Aditi to pursue her archery excellence dream.

She didn’t disappoint. In quick time, Aditi won the district championship and qualified to represent Maharashtra in an inter-school tournament in 2017. In her national debut the next year, she won a silver medal. In the 2021 junior nationals, she won her first individual gold plus a silver in the senior nationals. In her international debut in 2022 at the Asia Cup leg I staged in Phuket, she won a team silver followed by a team gold in Iraq and an individual silver in Sharjah. Thus far in her seven-year career as an archer, Aditi has won 70 medals in national and international tournaments.

“My dream is to win a gold medal in the compound archery event of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The 2024 Paris Olympics is limited to only recurve events which gives me five years to train hard,” she says.
Go girl!