Kumkum Mohod wins India’s first Asian Games women’s individual recurve gold

Seventeen-year-old Kumkum Anil Mohod became the first Indian woman to win an individual Asian Games medal in recurve archery after defeating South Korea’s Oh Yejin in a shoot-off in Aichi-Nagoya. The final was decided by one arrow. After falling behind and recovering during the contest, Mohod forced the match into a shoot-off and scored a 10 to win the gold.

The result also secured an individual quota place for India at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Mohod had already helped India win a historic women’s recurve team gold and had added a mixed-team silver at her first Asian Games. Her individual victory was the achievement her coach, Praful Dange, had repeatedly prioritised over team success.

Dange said he first called her “Champion” after the final because she had won her first individual international medal—and had done so with gold. He said he regarded the individual event as the clearest test of an archer, even though team and mixed-team medals were also valuable. The coach described Mohod’s commitment to training as unusually intense.

Even when he gave her Sundays off, he said she sometimes wanted to practise and had to be stopped to avoid injury. He said family occasions and festivals could wait because archery came first for her. Mohod, who was born in Maharashtra in 2009, made her international debut in 2025 and moved quickly into India’s senior recurve set-up.

At the World Cup Stage 2 in Shanghai, she joined Ankita Bhakat and four-time Olympian Deepika Kumari in winning gold, ending India’s five-year wait for a women’s recurve team World Cup title. At the Asian Games trials in Sonepat, Mohod topped qualification, won six matches in the second stage and finished second overall behind Kirti Sharma. Deepika Kumari finished fourth and missed the team.

Mohod began archery in Amravati after her father approached Dange in 2018. She first used a wooden bow before moving to a second-hand recurve set. Her father, Anil Manohar Mohod, makes cardboard boxes for sweet shops, and the family made sacrifices to fund training.

Dange said Mohod’s shoulder strength and release technique persuaded him to guide her towards recurve. He initially trained her at short distances for several months, building the foundation behind her historic gold.