India's star archer Sheetal Devi has won 2 gold medals in a span of a few hours in the Asian Para Games 2026. 19 year old Sheetal, after winning the gold medal in the compound mixed team event with Toman Kumar, also targeted gold in the individual event.
Sheetal, born without hands, defeated Singapore's Aleem Noor Shahida 142-139 in the final of the individual event. Aleem had made a good start in the final, taking a lead of 4 points after the first 2 sets. After this Sheetal made a brilliant comeback and scored 10-10 points consecutively in the next two sets. He also placed three X's (arrows that hit closest to the center of the target) meanwhile. In this way he took a lead of 2 points before the last set.
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Sheetal won 3 medals
Sheetal scored a total of 27 points with 9 points each in the last set, while Aleem could score only 26 points. Sheetal has 3 medals in her name in this Asian Para Games. She also won the silver medal in women's doubles with Payal Nag of Odisha.
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How does Sheetal do archery without hands?
Sheetal uses her legs to hold the bow in position and her shoulders and jaw to pull and release the string. She has won bronze in Paris Paralympics 2024. She became India's youngest Paralympic medalist by winning a medal in the mixed team compound event.