The Asian Games mixed team final had been reduced to its most unforgiving form. India and South Korea were tied 157-157, and in the shoot-off Chikitha Taniparthi had opened with a 10, matched by South Korea’s Jungyoon Park. Jadhav was next, with the Korean team waiting.Now, South Korea needed another 10 to stay alive. Yonghee Choi’s final arrow landed in the nine-ring, handing India a 20-19 shoot-off victory, a second compound archery gold of the day. Jadhav later combined with Kushal Dalal and Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru for a team gold. Tucked inside the celebration is India’s first Olympic quota in archery for Los Angeles 2028, where the mixed team event will make its Olympic debut.Family sacrificeThe story of these two medals stretches well beyond the shooting line in Okazaki. It runs through a family in Satara that kept finding money for an expensive dream, and through a coach who once worked hospital night shifts to fund his archery career.Pravin Sawant never made it to an international stage as an archer. His student now has an Olympic berth.“It’s like a dream come true – two dreams, in fact,” Jadhav, 25, said. “It’s awesome.”Jadhav was 19 when he first picked up a bow at a summer camp in Wai. His parents wanted him to try an individual sport and he initially trained in the wooden Indian round before moving to recurve. Sawant, who was coaching in Satara, saw that the youngster’s physique and temperament were better suited to compound.Sahil Jadhav and Chikitha Taniparthi hold their nerve in a dramatic shoot-off against Korea to secure Gold and India’s quota for the LA 2028 Olympics! Watch the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya LIVE on Sony Sports Network TV channels & Sony LIV.#SonySportsNetwork #SonyLIV… pic.twitter.com/Fs1JEEP415— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) September 30, 2026Jadhav had started late by archery standards and spent years waiting for the breakthrough, missing selections and major teams while continuing to train. Then came Covid, his father lost his job, and the family’s stretched finances became a question of whether he could continue playing the sport.Story continues below this ad“The family wanted Sahil to stop competing,” Sawant said. “I convinced them to let him continue so that he had a chance to justify his talent.”His mother, a teacher, sold her jewellery to help buy Sahil a compound bow.Sawant could relate to the family’s situation. His own archery journey took off when he simultaneously worked as a ward boy in an orthopaedic hospital. “I would finish night duty and spend the day travelling 45 kilometres to Wai to practise, using whatever money I earned from the job to pay for training and equipment,” Sawant says.He too had dreamed of representing India. “Who doesn’t have that? To play for India,” Sawant, who is now a police constable, says.Story continues below this adBut the dream ran into the realities of his circumstances. “I couldn’t do that as a player. Because I didn’t get all those things. I didn’t get proper coaching. I didn’t get the equipment. I didn’t get an upgrade in my knowledge from time to time.”Also Read | How India did it: Story behind 3 Asian Games gold medals at archery eventsWhat he could not find for himself, he began trying to build for others.When travelling to Wai became difficult, he began training at Shahu Stadium in Satara. Other youngsters began joining him, and whenever Sawant finished his police duty, he would train them. The coach who had once squeezed archery into the margins of his working life was slowly building a second career as coach.Aditi Swami and Ojas Deotale emerged from Sawant’s Drushti Archery Academy to become world champions in 2023 before playing leading roles in India’s compound gold rush at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Aditi won the women’s individual and team golds; Ojas returned with three gold medals.Story continues below this adJadhav was the next one to leave Satara, moving to the National Centre of Excellence in Kolkata, but distance did little to alter the relationship with his first coach. If anything, their meetings became rituals of their own. Jadhav, who has a fondness for tea, and Sawant would sit over endless cups whenever they met, talking through training, competitions and what had to change.GOLD FOR BHARAT! 磊Heartiest congratulations to Kushal Dalal, Sahil Rajesh Jadhav and Ganesh Maniratnam Thirumuru, on winning the Gold Medal in the Compound Men’s Team event at the Asian Games 2026. A proud moment for Indian archery and for the entire nation.#Cheer4Bharat pic.twitter.com/mU8b6KzdDk— Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) September 30, 2026Anthem targetFor Nagoya, they had settled on a number. “52 seconds,” Sawant said. “It’s the length of our national anthem. We never target the gold, we always play for the anthem.”Yet, on Wednesday, the metaphor acquired an uncanny precision.The mixed team final had been slipping towards a shoot-off after India, which had led through the earlier ends, saw South Korea shoot a perfect 40 in the fourth while India managed 39. The scoreboard read 157-157, leaving four arrows — two each — to decide the gold.When Jadhav stepped onto the shooting line after Chikitha played her part, he seemed to have hesitated for a moment before finding the bulls-eye. It was not the arrow that mathematically won India the gold; South Korea still had one shot left. But it was the arrow that made the final Korean shot unforgiving.When Choi hit a nine, Jadhav lowered his bow as the Indian celebration began. “This is awesome,” he said.