Sheetal Devi Wins Bronze at Paris Paralympics, Family Celebrates
Kishtwar (Jammu and Kashmir), September 4: The family of para-archer Sheetal Devi is overjoyed with her performance at the Paris Paralympics 2024. Sheetal, along with her teammate Rakesh Kumar, won the bronze medal in the Mixed Team Compound event by defeating Italy’s Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonnacina with a score of 156-155.
Despite a tough start in the women’s individual compound open archery event, where she narrowly missed advancing to the knockout stages, Sheetal’s remarkable qualification performance set a new World Record with 703 points out of 720.
Her father, Mann Singh, expressed immense pride, saying, “It is a matter of joy. The whole family is happy at our daughter’s performance. It is a matter of happiness for the whole country that my daughter has come so far.” Her brother, Ajay Kumar, also shared his excitement and hope for her future successes.
Sheetal’s story is truly inspirational. Born without arms, she has mastered the art of shooting arrows using her legs. She is a three-time Para Asian Games medallist, with two golds and a silver to her name.
The Indian contingent has been performing exceptionally well at the Paris Paralympics, adding 21 medals to their tally, including three gold, eight silver, and ten bronze medals. This surpasses their previous best of 19 medals at the Tokyo Paralympics.
In other news, para-athlete Sachin Khilari won a silver medal in the men’s shot put F46 final with a 16.32-metre throw, setting a new area best.
Doubts Revealed
Sheetal Devi -: Sheetal Devi is an athlete from India who competes in archery, a sport where you shoot arrows at a target.
Bronze -: Bronze is a type of medal given to the third-place winner in a competition.
Paris Paralympics -: The Paris Paralympics is a big sports event for athletes with disabilities, held in Paris, France.
Para-archer -: A para-archer is an athlete with a disability who competes in archery.
Mixed Team Compound event -: This is an archery event where teams of one male and one female compete together using compound bows, which have pulleys to help shoot arrows.
World Record -: A World Record is the best performance ever recorded in a particular sport or event.
Indian contingent -: The Indian contingent refers to the group of athletes and officials representing India at the Paralympics.
Para-athlete -: A para-athlete is a sportsperson with a disability who competes in sports events.
Sachin Khilari -: Sachin Khilari is an Indian athlete who competes in shot put, a sport where you throw a heavy ball as far as you can.
Shot put F46 final -: The F46 category in shot put is for athletes with arm impairments, and the final is the last and deciding round of the competition.