Las Vegas (United States): Indian archer Aditi Swami received the Breakthrough Archer of the Year 2023 award from World Archery after concluding the World Archery Indoor Series final here on Sunday.
The 17-year-old had a memorable 2023, becoming India's first-ever world champion in archery and contributing to India's historic performance in the Hangzhou Asian Games held in China with a gold medal in the women's team and an individual bronze.
Earlier, Aditi broke the Junior World Record and secured a top spot in the ranking round among the world's best archers. However, she shot to stardom at the Medeline World Cup in Colombia in 2023 and later claimed the gold medal at the World U19 Archery Championships in Limerick, Ireland. She also became the Senior Archery World Champion in Berlin, Germany.
She was also part of the Indian compound women's trio that won four gold medals last year, including a gold at the World Championships, partnering with Parneet Kaur and Jyothi Surekha Vennam.
Apart from her, Indian national Archery compound team coach Sergio Pagni won the prestigious award for the Best Coach of the Year 2023 for his exceptional contribution, guiding as many archers to prove their mettle at the highest level of the sport.
The Italian coach, Pagni, is a two-time World Champion and was hired as India's chief compound archery coach in December 2022. He then not only trained the Indian archers but brought the best out of every archer. India has seen a significant transformation in the sport with the compound team inching closer to a berth in the Paris Olympics 2024.
India has experienced immense growth in just one year of Pagni's coaching, securing three world championships Gold in the same year, a feat unprecedented in the sport's entire history. Additionally, there was a complete clean sweep at the 2023 Asian Games.
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