Nagoya, immortal thoughts. Indian para archer Shital Devi equaled the world record in the women's compound qualification round with a stellar performance at the Asian Para Games. On Monday he scored 704 marks out of 720. With this performance he also created a new Asian record. Thanks to the combined score of Sheetal and Payal, the Indian women's compound team topped the qualification and directly reached the semi-finals.
Shital Devi, 19, from Jammu and Kashmir scored full 10 points on 57 of her 72 arrows. Of these, 32 shots hit the innermost scoring area of the target i.e. Paris Paralympics bronze medalist Sheetal improved her Asian record of 698 points set in March this year by six points.
Turkey equals archer's world record
Talking about the world record, Turkey's Oznur Giridi had made this record by scoring 704 points in the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Sheetal equaled her record by scoring the same number of points in Nagoya.
Current Asian Games champion Sheetal also surpassed her record of 680 points set in the Asian Para Games held in Hangzhou in 2023. In that competition, he won two gold medals in the individual and mixed team events and a silver medal in the doubles event.
India number-1 in qualification with Payal
Payal, who is participating in the Asian Games for the first time, scored 675 points in the women's compound qualification round and finished fifth. Including Sheetal's 704 points and Payal's 675 points, India's combined score was 1,379. With this score, the Indian team stood first in the qualification table.
The Chinese team stood second with 1,338 points. On the basis of excellent performance, India directly made it to the semi-finals.
There may be a fight with Thailand or Kazakhstan in the semi-finals
The Indian pair will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between fifth seed Thailand and fourth seed Kazakhstan in the semi-finals. The Indian team will now focus on converting this performance into a medal.
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