How Chikitha persisted after she was defrauded for 1.5L paid for 1st compound bow

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What followed her first experience shooting was tougher than a glass slipper ferried by a prince, though the fairytale ended in a gold.

The stunning gold medal in Compound Archery Mixed Team that gave India its first Olympics quota for the Los Angeles 2028 Games, was a culmination of that dreamy afternoon with the simplest of store-bought recreational bows. For Chikitha never stopped shooting arrows, and on Wednesday combined with Sahil Jadhav, 25, winning a shoot-off over Koreans Park Jeong-yun and Choi Yonghee, at Nagoya.

Chikitha’s father, 51-year-old paddy farmer Srinivas Rao, was reduced to selling his family’s rice harvester, to ensure Chikitha could buy a proper Compound bow, as her interest morphed into passion and passion was tempered by discipline of day in-day out competition. The family would also need to take loans to get the bow and bear her training expenses till SAI and Reliance Foundation started funding for her best-quality bows.

Chikitha’s mother Sreelata Rao would cheer her daughter on, from their home in Sultanpur village in Peddapalli district in Telangana even as she completed two gold medals after topping qualification. Not only did she win in the Women’s team with veteran Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Prithika. She also combined with Sahil as the aindians were tied on 157-157 after the end of the fourth round before the shoot-off happened. Chikitha hit a ten followed by the Korean too hitting a ten. Sahil then hit a close ten before the Korean missed as the Indians won the shoot-off 20-19 to seal the title and Olympics quota.

“We stay in the small village of Sultanpur and only have our 2 acre farmland, where we grow rice. It was Chikitha, who played karate earning a black belt at a local academy, who read about an archer in a newspaper and wanted to pursue archery,” her father recalled.

“After her training for more than a year, I sold our rice harvester to get her a new bow as well as took loans from the village friends and others at a low interest to support her training. All in our family have been rice farmers and to see Chikitha win a gold medal as well as get the Olympics quota for India is a special feeling for us as well as the whole village,” 51-year-old Rao told The Indian Express.

Rao would take his daughter to nearby Karimnagar to train along with a local archer for a year and would also set targets made of card boxes and archery target cloth at the empty space behind their home to help Chikitha practice. “In her free time, she would shoot with the makeshift targets at the empty space besides our house,” he recalls.

The family was cruelly cheated off money in trying to buy her first bow. The father recalls how they lost more than 1.5 lakhs in trying to get new equipment. “The first compound bow we tried to get, we lost the money amounting to Rs 1.5 lakh in fraud. After a year, I took a loan of Rs 3.5 lakh to get her a new bow and later when she won the sub-junior nationals, the Collector of our district got her a new bow from the government funds,” he recalls.

“Later, we decided to travel to Delhi to seek training and it was there that we met international archer Abhishek Verma, who supported Chikitha and mentored her and later she got selected for the SAI Centre in Sonepat,” recalls Rao.

On Sunday, Rao was giving water to the rice cultivation in his fields when the news of the gold medals came. “I get 4400 kg of rice each year from one acre in a good season. And that produce is enough to sustain our expenses. When I got Chikitha the new bow, I prayed to god that good rains should happen for the next few years. In 2024, there were less rains and we could only get 1800kg of rice each from one acre. When we told Chikitha, she told us not to worry. She would talk about days when I would take her to training on our second hand motor bike. And all these hardships will be rewarded someday,” shares the father.

The earlier training in karate had helped too.

Arhery is a stationary sport. Prizes stillness. Demands extreme concentration. There is a rhythm that elite sport demands — where your heart rate could be off the charts, but you need to nail that one trigger or arrow releasing movement, which still needs shoulder power. To get that balance right, many athletes train in martial arts – karate, judo, jiu Jitsu, to achieve absolute mental poise / strength in that moment. It’s why a Karate black belt can translate into an Asiad gold many many years later. It is mind training that becomes muscle memory.

The quota secured, gold added to India’s tally, Chikitha will be welcomed home with her favourites. For Chikitha, it’s chitti muthyalu (small pearl) rice – that delectable rice-grain that’s best served in biryanis or pulao because the pearls swallow the spice.

Chikitha shared that she wants to get a new rice harvester for the family. And with the prize money, that’s the first thing she will do. Apart from that, she likes having the Chitti Muthyalu rice, which is also called Small Pearls. With this gold medal, she is the pearl of our village and family,” says Rao.

The family also has a long pending wish. “Her medals too are placed in an old box here at our two-room home. Once she returns, we will visit the Vemulawada Rajanna Temple – Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swami Temple and Kondagattu – Sri Anjaneya Swamy temple along with Chikitha and her medals to thank the gods,” said Rao.