India’s armless archer Sheetal Devi performed brilliantly and finished second in the women’s individual compound open ranking round on Thursday, giving her a direct entry into the round of 16 of the Paris Paralympics. 17-year-old Sheetal from Jammu and Kashmir was born without arms and arches with her legs. Sheetal scored 703 out of 720 points and finished second behind Turkey’s Oznur Girdi Kure. Oznur set a world record for the ranking round with 704 points.
Sheetal had also surpassed the ranking round world record of 698 set by Great Britain’s Phoebe Paine Paterson earlier this month but was later surpassed by Oznur. The top four archers in the ranking round, including Sheetal, received a bye into the round of 32 and will now compete in the round of 16 on Saturday.
Shital will face the winner of the Round of 32 match between Chile’s Mariana Zuniga and Korea’s Choi Na Mi. Both these archers finished 15th and 18th respectively in the ranking round. Zuniga won the silver medal in the women’s individual compound open event of the Tokyo Paralympics.
Sheetal created history last year by becoming the first Indian woman to win two gold medals in the same event at the Para Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. She also won a third medal in the form of a silver medal. She won gold medals in the women’s individual compound and mixed team events in Hangzhou, besides winning a silver medal in the women’s doubles. Sheetal was born with a rare congenital disorder called phocomelia syndrome due to which her limbs remained underdeveloped.