ਪਰਨੀਤ ਕੌਰਪਰਨੀਤ ਕੌਰ

Parneet Kaur is an Indian compound archer from Mandhali village in Mansa district, Punjab, who became a world champion at 18. In 2023 she won team gold with India at the World Archery Championships in Berlin and at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, then claimed her first major individual title at the Asian Championships in Bangkok. Two years later she added three medals at the World University Games in Germany: mixed team gold, individual silver and women's team bronze.

Early life and first arrows

Parneet Kaur was born in 2005 in Mandhali, a farming village in Budhlada tehsil of Mansa district, in Punjab's Malwa region. Her father, Avtar Singh, is a teacher, and her mother is Jagmeet Kaur. Her father wanted his child to take up a sport after school, and in 2015, when Parneet was 10, he took her to trials for fencing and archery in Patiala. Fencing was closed that day, so she picked up a bow instead, a chance beginning that shaped her life.

The family moved to Patiala so she could train properly, and she went on to study for a Bachelor of Arts degree at Punjabi University. Away from the range she is known as a keen reader with a love of English literature. Her favourite book is Milkha Singh's autobiography, The Race of My Life, which she has read many times.

Rise through the junior ranks

Parneet began professional training in 2017 under coach Surinder Singh Randhawa at Punjabi University, Patiala. She won silver at the National Inter-school tournament in 2019, and in November 2021 she competed at the Asian Archery Championships in Dhaka, where she beat Vietnam's Chau Kieu Oanh 147-144 in the women's individual compound event.

Team medals followed quickly. She was part of India's under-18 team that won gold at the World Archery Youth Championships in Yankton in 2021, and she won individual bronze at the Asia Cup in Sharjah and team bronze at the National Games in Ahmedabad in 2022. In 2023 she added under-21 team gold at the World Archery Youth Championships in Limerick. Her coach calls her the silent warrior of India's team events: calm, quiet and reliable when the team needs a steady arrow.

What did Parneet Kaur win at the Asian Games?

Parneet Kaur won gold in the women's team compound event at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023, alongside Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Aditi Gopichand Swami. India beat Indonesia 233-219 in the semifinal, then defeated Chinese Taipei 230-229 in a close final at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre on 5 October 2023, with Parneet shooting the first arrow in the team's order.

She returned to Punjab to a hero's welcome. Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer received her at Mohali airport, where she was greeted with dhol and bhangra, and the state government gave her Rs 8 lakh towards her preparation for future competitions. Punjab's 32 players won 20 medals at those Games, the state's best ever return.

World champion and Asian champion: the 2023 season

Two months before the Asian Games, Parneet had already become a world champion. At the World Archery Championships in Berlin in August 2023, the Indian women's compound team beat Turkey, Chinese Taipei and defending champions Colombia on their way to the final, where they defeated top seeds Mexico 235-229. It was India's first ever gold medal at the World Archery Championships in any category.

The wins kept coming. India won team gold at the Archery World Cup stage in Paris and team bronze in Medellin in 2023. Then, at the Asian Championships in Bangkok in November, Parneet won her first major individual title, beating her senior teammate Jyothi Surekha Vennam 9-8 in a shoot-off after the final finished tied at 145-145. She then joined Jyothi and Aditi to win the team gold 234-233 against Chinese Taipei, the team's third major title in a row after the World Championships and the Asian Games. More World Cup team golds followed in Shanghai, Yecheon and Antalya in 2024 and in Madrid in 2025.

World University Games 2025

At the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, in July 2025, Parneet won three medals in a single week. She partnered Kushal Dalal to win mixed team gold, beating South Korea 157-154 in the final and giving India its first gold of the Games. In the women's team event she joined Avneet Kaur and Madhura Dhamangaonkar to beat Great Britain 232-224 for bronze.

Her third medal came in the individual event, where she reached the final against South Korea's Moon Yeeun and lost by a single point, 146-147, taking silver. Three medals at one Games confirmed her place among India's leading compound archers.

What comes next for Parneet Kaur?

Parneet is still in her early twenties, and the biggest stage in her sport is opening up. The compound mixed team event, in which she won gold with Kushal Dalal at the World University Games, will make its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles Games in 2028, giving India a realistic new route to a first archery medal at the Olympics.

Back home, her success has already left a mark. After her Asian Games gold, the Punjab government announced rowing and archery nurseries for the Mansa area, so that other children from villages like Mandhali can find the sport the way she did, by chance, on an ordinary day in Patiala.