Para-archery sensation Sheetal Devi makes history after being included in India's able-bodied junior team

Armless archer Sheetal Devi made history on Thursday after she was picked in the Indian able-bodied junior team for the upcoming Asia Cup Stage 3 in Jeddah. The compound archer, who had won mixed team bronze with Rakesh Kumar in the Paralympic Games in Paris last year, thus achieved the feat of becoming the first para-athlete from India to be selected in a squad of able-bodied athletes.

The 18-year-old para-archer from India’s Jammu and Kashmir later revealed on social media that competing alongside able-bodied athletes was something she had dreamt of as a child.

“When I started competing, I had a small dream – to one day compete alongside the able-bodied. I didn’t make it at first, but I kept going, learning from every setback. Today, that dream is one step closer,” Sheetal wrote in a post on Instagram in which she thanked archery coach Gaurav Sharma.

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The teenager, who had been conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award in 2023, had finished third overall in the four-day national selection trials that had taken place in Haryana’s Sonipat, where she had competed alongside 60 able-bodied archers.

Sheetal scored 703 points during qualification – 352 in the first round and 351 in the second – matching top qualifier Tejal Salve’s total. She later finished third in the final rankings with 11.75 points behind Salve (15.75 points) and Vaidehi Jadhav (15).

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Before her landmark selection into the able-bodied team, Sheetal had made history at the World Para-Archery Championships in South Korea’s Gwanju in September by winning an individual gold, becoming the first female armless archer to be crowned world champion in the process.

Sheetal was born with phocomelia, a condition that led to her having underdeveloped arms. She shoots with her legs using a technique that was developed by American Paralympic silver-medallist Matt Stutzman.

And while she used to train at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Sports Complex in J&K’s Katra, she shifted her base to Patiala after the 2024 Paralympics where she trains under the guidance of coach Sharma.

Sharma helped her rebuild her stance after a rule change by World Archery that barred competitors from touching the bow with their heels.

Sheetal had also drawn inspiration from Turkish para-archer Oznur Cure Girdi, the reigning Paralympic champion who has competed in able-bodied events at the World Cup as well as the World Games, and had won a medal at the Istanbul 2025 Conquest Cup in May.

Teams: Recurve: Men’s: Rampal Choudhary (AAI), Rohit Kumar (Uttar Pradesh), Mayank Kumar (Haryana); Women: Kondapavuluri Yuktha Sri (Andhra Pradesh), Vaishnavi Kulkarni (Maharashtra), Kratika Bichpuriya (Madhya Pradesh).

Compound: Men: Pradhuman Yadav, Vasu Yadav, Devansh Singh (all Rajasthan); Women’s: Tejal Salve, Vaidehi Jadhav (both Maharashtra), Sheetal Devi (Jammu and Kashmir).