Sheeta Devi became the first Indian woman on Friday to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Asian Para Games.
Teenaged armless archer Sheetal Devi became the first Indian woman on Friday to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Asian Para Games. It is an inspirational moment for the 16-year-old from Jammu and Kashmir who holds the bow with her feet.
India won 17 medals on the penultimate day of the Asian Para Games. Subsequently, it took their total medals tally to 99. This includes 25 gold, 29 silver and 45 bronze medals. With one more day to go, India is now certain to win a century of medals in Hangzhou. Thereby it can be said ‘Ab ki baar 100 paar’ is on the verge of being fulfilled again at Hangzhou.
India’s 16-year-old para-archer Sheetal Devi produced a sensational effort in the final of the women’s individual compound event at the Asian Para Games to win the gold medal. What makes her achievement all the more astonishing is that Sheetal is the only current female international archer to shoot with her feet. This was her third medal of the Games. Earlier, she partnered with Rakesh Kumar to win gold in the compound mixed team event and a silver. She backed this performance with a silver in the women’s doubles along with Sarita.
Sheetal won the final despite trailing after the first three ends. She was behind 28-29, 56-58 and 84-87 in the first three ends against Singapore’s Alim Nur Syahidah. Needing almost perfect shots in the next two ends, Sheetal hit remarkable 10s in her next six shots to take the gold with a final score of 144-142. According to World Archery Sheetal is the only archer currently to shoot with her feet. She joined coach Kuldeep Kumar’s academy to do her initial training. “I took her to the national championships. She was excited and saw many para-archers with different disabilities. She quickly got really interested in the sport,” Kumar said.”I told her to come to the academy and see other people shooting. I took her to the national championships. She was excited and saw many para-archers with different disabilities,” he added.
Subsequently, Sheetal trained under the aegis of the famous armless archer Matt Stutzman. Over the years Matt has helped her to perfect the technique. Stutzman is a trailblazer in the para-archery, winning the silver medal at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. “I want her to be successful,” Stutzman said. “She wants to win really bad. It’s good she came because we can help her out.”
Twitter was bustling with great joy as India was able to notch up a significant win earning them two gold medals at the Asian Para Games. India’s medal rush continued on the penultimate day of competitions as the country’s tally swelled to 94 medals. Naturally, the netizens took to social media to celebrate this win. Listed below are the top Twitter reactions:
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