Azhove Resu Kohima | 27 September
As the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 continue, Nagaland’s Arjuna Awardee and Olympian Chekrovolu Swuro reflects on a journey that began long before the medals, recognition and Olympic stage.
Before all of that, Swuro was a young girl from a farming family who travelled alone with just Rs 500 to pursue archery.
Today, Swuro believes Nagaland has the talent to produce more Olympians. But talent alone, she says, is not enough.
“We Nagas have potential,” she told MT, pointing to challenges young athletes face, including equipment, facilities, mentality and discipline.
She believes athletes can become satisfied “too early” after achieving success at the national level.
“When we win a medal at the National level, we tend to take pride in it and limit ourselves,” she said.
“We have potential. We are smart and better but…we lack discipline,” she added.
But the road to the Olympics was not straightforward for Swuro. Her journey began when she left her village to pursue an opportunity she knew little about.
Swuro recalled travelling to the Tata Archery Academy with only Rs 500. It was her sister who encouraged her to go and join the academy.
She travelled alone. Her sister met her in Kolkata and helped her board another train to Tatanagar, where a man from the academy came to receive her.
Within three days, she was selected.
Coming from a village, Swuro said she did not know Hindi or English when she first arrived. Therefore, she had to communicate mostly through actions.
“I could speak to my parents only once a month because there was no phone at home,” she said.
The early days were not easy. When she became sick, she would cry and feel low. Her sister would encourage her and remind her that success would not come without hard work.
That support remained important throughout Swuro’s career.
Her family were farmers, and she considers herself and her siblings fortunate to have had the opportunity to represent Nagaland and India. From the beginning, her target was clear. She wanted to qualify for the Olympics.
That goal, however, took years to achieve. Swuro was part of Indian teams that secured Olympic qualification opportunities but missed the final squad for the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Her breakthrough came in 2011, when the Indian women’s recurve team of Swuro, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Deepika Kumari won silver at the World Championships in Turin, securing India’s women’s team quota for the London Olympics.
She finally made the Olympic team for London 2012, becoming the second athlete from Nagaland to compete at the Games after Dr T Ao.
Even after reaching the Olympics, there is one moment from London that she still remembers with regret. During the team event, she missed two shots that she wishes she could have taken differently.
But despite that moment, Swuro said she has no regret about choosing archery. She gave her best to represent India.
Born on November 21, 1982, Swuro hails from Dzulhami village in Phek district, Nagaland. She began her archery journey as a teenager and represented India at the 2002 and 2006 Asian Games. She also won team recurve bronze medals at the Asian Archery Championships in New Delhi in 2005, China in 2007 and Tehran in 2011.
Swuro received the Arjuna Award for Archery in 2013 and remains active in the sport. She currently serves as President of the Nagaland Archery Association and, in January 2026, was elected Vice-President of the Archery Association of India.
Encouraging young athletes, she said, “Do not give up,” adding that “becoming an Olympian is not easy and can take many years.”
With many athletes competing for limited places, she believes athletes need commitment, discipline and determination to keep going.
She also feels government support is important, especially for equipment and facilities. But athletes, she says, also have to be willing to put in the work.
For Swuro, the journey from a village in Phek to the Asian Games podium and eventually the Olympic stage has been a long one. Her story, however, is not only about the medals she won, but also about the years of persistence, setbacks and discipline it took to get there.