Rishabh Yadav and Jyothi Surekha set world record at Archery World Cup in Madrid

Indian archers Rishabh Yadav and Jyothi Surekha Vennam have made the country proud by creating a new world record at the 2025 Archery World Cup in Madrid, Spain. They achieved this milestone in the compound mixed team event, scoring a total of 1431 points, with 70 arrows hitting the X-ring, also known as the most accurate shots in archery.

They broke the previous world record of 1429 points set by Denmark’s Tanja Gellenthien and Mathias Fullerton during the 2023 European Games in Kraków-Malopolska.

India’s proud moment on global stage

This achievement marks a historic moment for Indian archery, especially in the compound category, which is often dominated by archers from Europe and the USA.

Rishabh and Jyothi’s performance showed the growing strength and consistency of Indian archers on the international stage. Their teamwork and focus helped them push past a record that had remained unbroken for two years.

Rishabh Yadav’s performance was outstanding in the compound men’s qualification round. He scored 716 points, with 68 out of 72 arrows hitting the 10-ring, and 35 of them hitting the X-ring.

This score not only helped the mixed team break the world record but also became Rishabh’s personal best in any international archery competition so far.

His performance also earned him the top spot in the men’s ranking for this event.

A strong year for Rishabh Yadav

Rishabh Yadav’s journey in 2025 has been very impressive. Earlier in May, he won his first World Cup medal, a bronze, during the Shanghai leg of the tournament.

Now, with a world record and top qualification scores, he continues to prove his potential as one of India’s rising stars in archery.

He has now qualified for the Gwangju 2025 World Archery Championships, which will be held later this year.

Jyothi Surekha Vennam, one of India’s top archers and the reigning Asian Games champion, also had a fantastic outing in Madrid.

She scored 715 points in the compound women’s qualification round, matching Rishabh’s accuracy with 35 X-ring hits. Like him, this was also her best-ever score in an international event.

With this, she secured the top seed in her category for the first time in the 2025 Archery World Cup season.

First top position in 2025 World Cups for Jyothi

Even though Jyothi had performed well in the previous World Cup stages, she had not been able to secure the top position in the earlier three rounds.

Speaking after her performance, Jyothi said,

“I have been shooting good this year, but somewhere I just felt there was something missing. But today, from the morning practice session, I felt really good. I just wanted to keep shooting the same way in the qualification—and I did.”

Interestingly, Rishabh and Jyothi had not played together as a mixed team in the second and third stages of the Archery World Cup this year. However, they started the season with a gold medal together in the Florida leg earlier in 2025.

Now, in the fourth stage in Madrid, the pair reunited and immediately delivered an exceptional performance, setting a new world record.

Olympic hope for 2028

Rishabh Yadav also mentioned the Olympic future of their event. He shared his happiness and excitement, noting that the compound mixed team event has been added to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

This gives more hope to archers in India and around the world that the compound format will gain more importance and recognition in the upcoming Olympic Games.

“We are happy with the consistency we’ve shown together,” Rishabh said after setting the record. “We didn’t compete together in the last two stages, but now we are back and performed very well.”

After their excellent performance in Madrid, both Rishabh Yadav and Jyothi Surekha Vennam have secured their places in the Indian team for the Gwangju 2025 World Archery Championships.

Their form, confidence, and chemistry as a team make them strong contenders for medals at the upcoming championship.

What is the compound mixed team event?

In archery, the compound mixed team event is a format where one male and one female archer from a country form a team. They shoot a combined total of 144 arrows—72 each—with the goal of scoring as many points as possible.

A score of 1431 out of 1440 is extremely close to perfection and shows the high level of performance by Rishabh and Jyothi.

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What is an X-ring?

In archery scoring, the X-ring is a small circle in the center of the 10-ring. While both give 10 points, X-ring hits are used to break ties between archers with the same score. Hitting more Xs shows better precision and is considered a mark of elite performance.

Both Rishabh and Jyothi hitting 35 Xs each in their rounds shows just how accurate and focused they were during the event.

India has made steady progress in archery over the past few years, especially in the compound category, where archers like Jyothi and Abhishek Verma have already gained international recognition.

Now, with Rishabh Yadav emerging as a new star and pairing well with Jyothi, India is building a strong team that can challenge the world’s best at top events.

The world record set by Rishabh Yadav and Jyothi Surekha is a huge boost for Indian archery and a proud moment for all sports fans in the country.

Their performance is a reminder that with the right training, mindset, and teamwork, Indian athletes can compete—and win—on the global stage.

With the World Archery Championships and the 2028 Olympics on the horizon, all eyes will now be on this winning pair as they aim for even greater success in the future.