Vennam named ESPN India’s female athlete of the year

Asian Games gold medallist Jyothi Surekha Vennam was named female athlete of the year by ESPN India, as the sports channel announced its annual awards and highlights of 2023 online.

She was recognised ‘for her consistency and for constantly raising the bar for Indian compound archery’.

“I am surprised to be awarded with this prestigious award,” Vennam said. “2023 was a successful year and I am looking forward to stay as consistent and win more titles.”

The 27-year-old has been one of the nation’s leading compound archers for some time now, regularly climbing the international podiums since at least 2015.

But she had never won individual gold at a World Archery event until last year.

The hole was finally filled at the outdoor season opener, the first stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in April in Antalya, where she won the compound women’s gold medal, having beaten world number one Ella Gibson and eight-time Hyundai Archer World Cup Champion Sara Lopez back-to-back.

Vennam then added some more remarkable performances, including an historic compound women’s team gold in Berlin – India’s first ever gold medal at the World Archery Championships.

The pinnacle of her season came at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in October, when she pulled off a hat-trick of three gold medals – individual, team and mixed team – as did her male teammate Ojas Deotale.

Armless 16-year-old compound archer Sheetal Devi was also named among the best moments of the year by ESPN India.