17-calendar year-outdated compound archer Sheetal Devi won a silver medal in the able-bodied personal compound archery function final at the 2024 Khelo India Nationwide Fulfill at the DDA Yamuna Athletics Sophisticated in New Delhi, on Wednesday.
She misplaced out to Haryana’s Ekta Rani with a rating of 138-140 in the ultimate.
Sheetal, an archer without the need of arms who employed her legs to shoot, experienced formerly gained two gold and a silver at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Para Game titles and was awarded the Arjuna award in recognition of her accomplishment.
She also received silver in the open up women’s compound archery function at the Earth Archery Para Championships 2023 in the Czech Republic in July previous year. She was the very first woman armless archer to get a medal at the Para Globe Championships.
The medal also helped Sheetal attain a quota for India for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Video games.
Sheetal with a Silver in an equipped-bodied tournament! 🏹
Hitting the headlines the moment all over again, 🇮🇳’s Para-Archery fame Sheetal Devi clinched🥈in the Sub-Junior compound girls classification!
The talented #TOPSchemeAthlete shed towards 2023 Youth Environment Champion Ekta Rani 138-140 in the final… pic.twitter.com/RZj7Tc6tQh
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) April 17, 2024
Born with a uncommon issue named phocomelia, she is the to start with and at present the only global para-archery winner devoid of arms.
Sheetal thinks her efficiency in the Khelo India celebration will enable her put together for the worries forward.
“This result will help me much more likely forward in the worldwide platforms and the Olympics,” Sheetal was quoted as declaring by Sporting activities Authority of India.
Her mentor Abhilasha stated, “Having part in the countrywide position tournament, along with capable-bodied competitors, is giving teaching and level of competition exposure which is a lot-required prior to the Olympics.”
“We have to go abroad for publicity but we are acquiring the identical practical experience right here itself. Domestic-level tournaments like these are serving to the bring about,” Abhilasha added.
Ekta hails Sheetal
On her component, Ekta Rani reported she felt inspired by Sheetal’s presence in the competitors. “I have confronted-off with Sheetal earlier so I experienced the match knowledge against her. We confronted off in Patiala very last December as perfectly. It feels good to perform in opposition to her simply because she is an armless archer and it presents a great deal of drive as properly,” Ekta stated.
Ekta bagged the prize money of Rs 50,000 whereas Sheetal acquired Rs 40,000.
The event was carried out in three classes — senior, junior and sub-junior in recurve and compound. Eighty-seven archers competed in this event.