The Paralympic Games have started in Paris. Indian athletes performed brilliantly on the first day. Many athletes qualified for the next round. The best performance was of 17-year-old archer Sheetal Devi. Sheetal Devi, the world's first armless archer, made her debut in the Paralympics and created history as soon as she entered. During the ranking round of archery in Paris, she scored 703 points and broke the world record. However, shortly after, Turkey's Oznur Girdi Kure overtook Sheetal with 704 points and took this record in her name.

Appreciation of cool

Sheetal Devi is a resident of Kishtwar, a small village in Jammu and Kashmir.

17-year-old Sheetal is suffering from a congenital disease called Phocomelia. She has been without both hands since childhood, but she never gave up in her life. Now she has brought glory to India in Paris. Sheetal scored 703 out of 720 points and stood second in the ranking round. This is also her personal best score. With this, she has become the first Indian woman archer to score 700 points. Seeing her performance and passion, she is being praised a lot. Many fans and celebrities including Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh are saluting her talent.

Respect Sheetal Devi Incredible https://t.co/ogJeTOzZga

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) August 30, 2024

World and Paralympic records

Sheetal Devi's individual world record may have been broken immediately but the mixed team event was a success. The team of Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar together set a world and Paralympic record in archery at the Paris Paralympics. After Sheetal's 703 points, Rakesh Kumar scored 696 points in his individual ranking round.

In this way, after the completion of their respective ranking rounds, both of them together scored a total of 1399 points. This is the highest score so far in the mixed team event. With this, the pair has now reached the quarterfinals. Now their quarterfinal match will be held on 2nd at 8:40 pm.

#ParaArchery:Mixed Team Compound Open Update

WORLD & PARALYMPIC RECORD!

Team India comprising Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar smash their own world record & also set the new PR registering a combined score of 1399 after the end of their respective ranking rounds.

they are pic.twitter.com/UxAOqzNXxI

— Sai Media (@Media_SAI) August 29, 2024

This is how my career started

Sheetal, who created history at the age of 17, had never even seen a bow and arrow till the age of 15. 2022 brought a big change for her. On the advice of an acquaintance, Sheetal visited the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Sports Complex in Katra, Jammu. It is about 200 km (124 miles) from her home. There she met Abhilasha Chaudhary and her other coach Kuldeep Vedwan, who introduced her to the world of archery. After this, she soon shifted to Katra city and started training and within 2 years has made a world record in the Paralympics.