India won only their second archery medal in Paralympics history with 17-year-old Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar clinching bronze in the mixed team event at Paris Paralympics 2024.
Teenage Indian archer Sheetal Devi has become worldwide sensation at the Paris Paralympics 2024, being the only female armless athletes in this edition and aged just 17 years. Sheetal paired up with Rakesh Kumar and the duo made a fairytale comeback after the heartbreak in the semifinals to claim the bronze medal with a 156-155 win over Italy’s Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonacina in mixed team compound archery competition at Paris Paralympics 2024 on Monday (September 2) night.
It is only the second time that India has won a medal in Paralympics in archery. Harvinder Singh bagged an individual bronze at the Tokyo Olympics 2021 three years ago. Sheetal also became the first Indian woman to win an archery medal at the Paralympics as coach Kuldeep Vedhwan rejoiced at the stands.
WATCH Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar seal the bronze medal at Paris Paralympics 2024 HERE…
A triumph of teamwork and tenacity!
Rakesh Kumar & Sheetal Devi, your Bronze Medal in the Para Archery Mixed Team Compound Open at #paralympics2024 speaks volumes about your hard work & dedication.
Your journey together has been inspiring, showing that with mutual support &… pic.twitter.com/EFut4er5jk— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) September 2, 2024
Teenager Sheetal was diagnosed with a rare medical condition called phocomelia and was born with severely underdeveloped arms. That didn’t stop the archer from Kashmir from growing into a confident child. India won after the 17-year-old Sheetal’s shot in the final end was upgraded from 9 to 10 following a revision. Something similar had happened in the semifinal too, against Iran earlier in the evening, but the Indians were at the receiving end on that occasion.
The Indian duo shot 10, 9, 10 10 in the final end to reach 155. The Italian pair responded with 9, 9, 10, 10 to draw level at 155-155. It was at that point that the judge decided to take a closer look at Sheetal’s shot and concluded that it was a 10, leading to India’s victory.
It was a great comeback by the Indians after they went down in shoot-off following a dramatic semifinal clash against Iran’s Fatemeh Hemmati and Hadi Nori. Both Rakesh and Sheetal failed to win medal in the individual event at the Paris Paralympics 2024.
Earlier on Monday evening, the Indian mixed team duo looked on course to make the final but a fine Iranian rally and revision of score by a judge came in their way. The match went into shoot-off after the scores were tied 152-152.
The top seeds in the mixed compound open event, Sheetal and Rakesh, displayed fine form en route to the semifinal. The Iranian duo prevailed over Brazil’s Jane Karla Gogel and Reinaldo Vagner Charao Ferreira 153-151 in their quarterfinal clash.
The 39-year-old Rakesh suffered a spinal cord injury and after recovering in 2009 he realised he would be wheelchair-bound for life, which plunged him into depression and even forced him to contemplate taking his own life.