From compound to recurve: Prathamesh Jawkar’s bold quest for Olympic glory

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT is presented by WIAWIS.

The Olympic dream is irresistible. It demands immense dedication, commitment, and hard work – but remains an impossible temptation to resist.

Prathamesh Jawkar had grown up chasing that dream, and he’s ready to take every bold step to make it a reality.

The promising Indian compounder, who won a maiden Archery World Cup stage in 2023, has gone back to the drawing board, reflected and restarted his approach to reach the biggest stage. 

At 21, Jawkar has made a drastic shift – trading his compound bow for recurve – to chase a spot at the LA 2028 Olympics.

“When I started playing archery, my dream was to represent India at the Olympics,” he told For the People News.

“There was a buzz in the archery community that the compound category would be added in the upcoming Olympics Games. So, my plan was to reach the top level four or five years before 2028.”

Jawkar was already on the right path, securing his first senior international title in 2023 by winning individual gold in the compound men’s event at the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai. He stunned the archery world by defeating reigning world number one Mike Schloesser in the final.

Later that year, alongside Ojas Pravin Deotale and Abhishek Verma, he won the compound men’s team gold at the circuit’s fourth stage in Paris. He capped off the season with silver at the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final and team gold at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games – his biggest achievements yet.

Still, none of this brought him closer to the Olympics.

Despite these achievements, Jawkar’s Olympic goal remained elusive. Just before the Paris 2024 Olympics, it was announced that compound events would not be part of the LA 2028 Games.

“I felt very sad and helpless,” he said. “I decided to give up on my compound bow and take up the recurve so I could represent India at the Olympics.”

It was a tough decision for someone who has already tasted success on the elite stage to start from scratch in a different discipline.

However, Jawkar is determined to rewrite history for India, which still awaits its first Olympic archery medal.

Jawkar was in Paris to watch the recurve events and witnessed his teammates Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat come very close to a bronze medal in the mixed team event.

“It was frustrating,” he said.

India had contenders in all five events in Paris, and experts felt this was the country’s best chance to win the elusive medal, but to everyone’s disappointment the team returned home empty-handed, despite featuring decorated archer Deepika Kumari.

Bommadevara and Bhakat reached the mixed team semifinals but lost their final two matches, finishing in fourth – India’s best-ever result in Olympic archery but still outside the podium.

Jawkar’s new journey began six months ago, and he understands the challenges ahead.

“Both bows look easy, and shooting looks similar. But I always give this analogy of lawn tennis and table tennis. Both are exponents of tennis, but they are completely different sports.”

“I had to simply reboot my game,” who hails from the small district of Buldhana in Maharashtra and has fought his way to the top.

The junior world championships were Jawkar’s biggest motivation when he started archery at five. Despite despite three attempts, he never won a medal at the event.

It was heartbreaking, but he admitted that each failure taught him valuable lessons and became a stepping stone.

“This hat-trick of heartbreaks taught me a lot of things. I dreamt about this tournament but couldn’t win.”

“Archery and life are very similar – they teach us a lot. I was very disappointed after the losses. But I realised that all the hard work that I put in my preparation towards the junior championships was the investment for my success in the senior category.”

The youngster never gave up on his routine and practice, and that perseverance paid off in the Archery World Cups and Asian Games

With renewed motivation and confidence, Jawkar chalked out his plans and has taken steps to succeed in the recurve category, including a two-week training in Korea, impressed to train at the world’s best archery place.

“They have the best facilities for archery and have produced many Olympians. I’m practising and improving on my skills that I learnt there,” said the promising archer, who continues to train with India’s top Olympians back home.

The plan for next two years looks tight for Jawkar – it’s to compete in district tournaments, qualify for state and national events, and ultimately aim for the Olympic qualifiers.

And the Indian archer is fully focused on achieving his goal.

“There’s no room for distractions,” he said. “It’s like beginning from zero. Then I can aim for the Olympic qualifiers. But I’m ready for this.” 

“It’s a do or die situation for me now.”

His race against time has already begun.