Khelo India Games help athlete grow in the circuit, says Aditi Gopichand
World champion archer Aditi Gopichand Swami credited the Khelo India Games for her rise in the sport, saying they strengthened her growth and stability. She won gold at the KIUG 2025 and now aims for Olympic success in Los Angeles 2028
Hyderabad: Aditi Gopichand Swami, the first Indian and the world’s youngest compound archer to win an individual gold medal at the World Archery Championships, believes that events like the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) and the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) play a crucial role in strengthening an athlete’s professional growth and financial stability.
Aditi, who created history by winning the individual gold medal at the World Archery Championships held in Berlin in 2023, has won three consecutive gold medals in the Khelo India Youth Games in Jaipur. Representing Shivaji University here, she continued that legacy by winning the gold medal in her first-ever appearance at the Khelo India University Games Rajasthan 2025 by beating Taniparthi Chikitha of Lovely Professional University.
She credited the Khelo India initiative for her rise as an archer, saying it was the platform that got her recognised and gave her the opportunity to understand and get used to top-level competition.
“Before being selected for TOPS, things were not easy. Diet, gym and training expenses were quite high. My father made immense sacrifices to support my sporting journey. The scholarship provided under the Khelo India scheme helped us significantly. It allowed us to focus solely on performance,” said the 19-year-old from Satara district in Maharashtra.
Despite being a champion archer, Aditi did think about shifting to recurve as she wanted to compete in the Olympics. She is now focused on improving her performance in compound archery after the discipline was included in the Olympic programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Games as a mixed team event.
“I did think about trying recurve once, but I knew I would have to start from zero and it could take seven to eight years to gain mastery. So I stepped back from that decision. Once compound was included in the Olympics, I found a clear objective.
“My dream is to win an Olympic gold medal for India. Earlier, compound archery was not part of the Olympics, and that felt like a missing piece. But now that it has been included as a mixed team event, it is a golden opportunity for me.”
Aditi knows that qualifying for the 2028 Olympics is not going to be an easy task as there are many good archers in India and she will need to be at her best.
“I know all eyes are on me after the World Championships. I went through a lean patch in the last five-six months but I have been focusing on my training and I am happy that everything came together in the Khelo India University Games,” she added.
