Chikitha Taniparthi might be just 21 but the compound archer has already proved her mettle on the world stage, in her debut Asiad campaign.
At the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games that ended earlier this month, the Telangana youngster bagged two gold medals. First, she combined with veteran Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Prithika Pradeep for the women’s compound team gold and then teamed up with Sahil Jadhav for the compound mixed team gold that also locked in an Olympic quota.
En route to the gold, the women’s team also equalled the world record (238 points) held by South Korea. The Koreans had secured the record total during the Incheon Asian Games in 2014.
In Hyderabad, playing in the Archery Premier League for Chola Chiefs, Chikitha, who comes from a modest farming family in Peddapalli, took time out from her matches to share her journey with The Telegraph.
“This was my first Asian Games and I won two gold medals. I could not have asked for more,” said Chikitha. “In fact, even now, it seems so unreal to me, despite all the felicitations and adulations and messages that I have been receiving since.
“That day, September 30, I did not have much time after the women’s team gold to the mixed final. I was in a rush and we (she and Sahil) just had a little time to sit and prepare ourselves.”
And this is where the mental factor comes in. How did someone as young as she is mentally prepare for such a high-pressure event?
“Ahead of important match days, I generally meditate,” she said, “though, of course, if I have not been playing up to the standards I set for myself, I am usually unable to calm my mind.
“Also, while on the range, I always take it one arrow at a time and proceed step by step, instead of thinking of the final target.”
Her father, Srinivas Rao, made sure Chikitha — who also has a black belt in karate — played physical games from a very young age to burn off energy.
In school, she tried her hand at various sports. But her father wanted her to pursue an individual discipline. Archery was finally destined to be the one that she would stick with.
“Since archery is an individual game, whatever we do is directly visible and we do what we do for ourselves,” she said.
Eventually, things started falling in place. Archer Abhishek Verma, who she idolised growing up, became her mentor. She also moved to train at SAI, Sonipat.
The child in her came to the fore as she recollected how difficult it was initially for her, a girl from South India, to gel with the northern crowd. She didn’t know Hindi, her food preferences were different.
“I would often weep,” she recalled. But then the never-say-die streak in her surfaced and she settled down.
Chikitha emerged champion at the World Youth Championship in Winnipeg, Canada, last year. She also won the team silver and mixed team gold in the Asia Cup Stage 1 in Bangkok this March.
“I went through a difficult patch last year. After becoming the world youth champion, my performance fell. I was struggling with my shooting aim.
“The Asia Cup medals reinvigorated me, I worked really hard and got back into the first team,” she said.
And then came the Asian Games and Chikitha became Indian archery’s latest golden girl.
But her feet are firmly planted on the ground, with the hunger to achieve more — become India’s most decorated archer ever.