On an overcast Wednesday at the Okazaki Sports Park in Aichi, Sergio Pagni stood on the losing side of the compound archery event, watching on as his former team claimed three golds from three, with India defeating South Korea every time.
Three years ago in Hangzhou, Pagni was the coach who ensured India won a clean sweep (five golds, a silver and bronze from five events) at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
No wonder South Korea poached Sergio Pagni.
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That, in effect, was the biggest validation of compound archery as a sport. Now an Olympic sport, it was finally being taken seriously by the giants of recurve archery, South Korea. The country was pouring money into the grassroots and needed the best at the top as well.
The best was Pagni - The Archery Association of India tried their best to hold on the Italian, but there would only be one winner.
On the field, in front of the targets however, India found multiple winners.
Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Prithika Pradeep and Chikitha Taniparthi kicked things off with gold in the women's compound team event, defeating South Korea in the semifinal.
Chikitha and Sahil Jadhav then made it two golds from two as India beat Korea in a shootoff in the final. And then Jadhav, Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru and Kushal Dalal made it three golds from three, rubbing it in with a massive seven-point win over Korea in the semifinal before a superb comeback over China in the final.
Going into the games, this wasn't an expected script. The likes of Abhishek Verma, Ojas Deotale, Parneet Kaur, Aditi Swami and Prathamesh Jawkar did not make India's squad, as a new-look team emerged.
India found pedigree in Pagni's successor, Dave Cousins, with the American the only archer in history to win every major World Archery discipline, including Outdoor, Indoor, Field, 3D and the World Games. Yet, this was Cousins' first major international coaching assignment, and given the new-look squad, and the changing milieux of compound archery, he was understandably circumspect ahead of the Aichi-Nagoya Games.
"Well, one thing to remember is that during the Hangzhou Asian Games, the (compound) archery scene in Asia was much, much different than it is now... You have a lot of developing countries that have become elite level competitors very fast. So, we're up against a totally different set of challenges now than he (Pagni) was."
"I can't predict a number. All I know is that these athletes will go out and they'll execute their process the way that they've been trained, and they're prepared for anything,"
And yet, perhaps nothing would have prepared Cousins for Jyothi, his most decorated and experienced archer (and defending champion), losing to 14-year-old Korean prodigy Kang Yeon-seo in the women's individual pre-quarterfinal in Aichi.
In effect, that justified Cousins' reasons for caution - gold wasn't as straightforward as it was in Hangzhou. India were up against potential new champions. India were up against a Korea and China that had spent the three years since preparing to take their crown. India were up against the weight of their previous success. India were up against their former coach.
In the windy conditions of Aichi, you wouldn't forgive them an errant eight under the pressure of what they were up against.
Six Indian archers shot a hundred and thirty arrows at the target on Wednesday. One hundred and nine (83.84%) of them were 10 or X, twenty-one were nine. None were eight.
In the women's compound team semifinal, Jyothi was up against her 14-year-old vanquisher Kang, but teammates Prithika and Chikitha backed her all the way as India held a one-point lead going into the final three shots. With Korea scoring 29 in their last three, Prithika and Chikitha nailed tens into the target, taking the pressure off Jyothi in the last shot, and her nine was enough for a 234-233 win.
"We pushed each other and kept telling each other that we have to give our best. Even if we had one bad shot, a nine score, we kept backing each other up and saying, 'Get back to what you know best and keep focusing on that'," said Prithika after the final.
That they described a nine as a bad shot was telling, and that was the case in the final as the trio turned in a world record score of 238 (just two nines) to breeze past China.
Chikitha then took that form a few hours later into the mixed team semifinal against Thailand, as she joined Jadhav in a 156-155 win and then the duo nailed ten straight perfect scores to start the final against Korea. A two-point lead became one going into the final four arrows, and the Indian pair stumbled with a 39 to Korea's 40, resulting in a shootoff.
🥇 THIRD GOLD IN ARCHERY! 🏹
Kushal Dalal, Sahil Rajesh Jadhav, and Ganesh Maniratnam Thirumuru, all TAGG athletes, beat China 238-237 to win Gold in the Compound Men's Team event. Congratulations, champions! 🇮🇳#AsianGames2026 #AichiNagoya2026 #Cheer4Bharat #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/H7dNthW7wO
- Dept of Sports, Govt of India (@IndiaSports) September 30, 2026
India vs Korea in an archery shootoff - there's plenty of PTSD there (in recurve). Yet, the 21-year-old from Telangana and the 25-year-old from Satara held their nerve, trusting their process as they shot two tens and Korea crumbled with Pagni watching, shooting 19 as India claimed mixed team gold. This was particularly momentous as mixed team compound archery is the only event at the 2028 Olympics and the gold also sealed India's spot in Los Angeles.
Sahil Jadhav carried over his imperious form into the men's team semifinal against Korea, as he reeled off X,X,X,10,10,10,X,9 (the last nine when India had a seven-point lead and it was moot). 236-229 as Pagni suffered his third loss to India.
At this point in the day, the final against China seemed a formality. Things took a turn early, as Kushal and Ganesh shot nines in India's first six shots, and China were perfect throughout, reeling off ten after ten as they led by two points. The lead had dropped to one going into the final six shots, but the pressure was truly on. Two out of three golds didn't have the same pizzazz to it.
And then a gift, as China shot eight, ten, ten. This was India's chance and Jadhav would not miss. Ganesh would not miss. Kushal would not miss.
Ten, ten, ten. Perfect.
Gold, Gold, Gold. Perfect.