Paris Paralympics 2024: Sheetal Devi finishes second in compound archery ranking round, misses world record by one point

India’s Sheetal Devi on Thursday secured second rank in the women’s individual compound open ranking round on the opening day of the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Sheetal finished with a score of 703, including 59 10s and 25 Xs. This is Sheetal’s new personal best.  Sheetal got a bye to the round of 16, and her match will take place on 31 August at 8.59 pm IST.

Sarita, another Indian in the competition, ended the ranking round in ninth place with 682 points. Sarita will next take on Malaysia’s Abdul Jalil in the round of 32 on 30 August at 3.03 pm IST.

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Sheetal finished just one point behind Oznur Cure of Turkey, who clinched top spot with 704 points. Iran’s Hemmati Fatameh finished in third place with 696 points. With her feat, Oznur also set a new world record, breaking Great Britain’s Phoebe Paterson Pine’s record of 698 which she had only set earlier in August. Sheetal missed that record by just one point.

Sheetal, who is the only archer without arms competing at the Paris Paralympics, surged to 176 points after the completion of 18 shots. And by the end of the first half of the ranking round, the 17 year-old had 348 points.

Sheetal had caught the eyes of many last year when she won two gold and one silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games.

Coming back to the game, in the second half of the ranking round, Sheetal consistently registered scores of 55 and above, even hitting 60 thrice in three of the first five sets, before finishing with a 59. By the end of the fifth set in the second half, Sheetal was on top with 644 points, which was the same as second-placed Oznur Cure of Turkey.

However, the Turkish athlete showed promise towards the end with a couple of 60s in the last two sets to eventually come out on top.

In the men’s recurve archery ranking round, Harvinder Singh finished in ninth place with a score of 637 with 19 10s and five Xs. Harvinder will lock horns against Tseng Lung-hui of Taiwan in the round of 32 on 4 September, scheduled to take place at 5.49 pm IST.

In men’s individual compound open ranking round, Rakesh Kumar and Shyam Sundar Swami scored 696 and 688 points respectively, finishing in fifth and 15th places. Rakesh will face Senegal’s Aliou Drame in the round of 32 match on Friday (30 August) at 7.17 pm IST. Shyam Sundar Swami Thailand’s Comsan Singpirom on the same day at 9.50 pm IST in the last 32.

In women’s individual recurve open, Pooja set a new season best, scoring 585 points. Pooja received a bye to the round of 16. Her round of 16 match will take place on 3 September at 3.20 pm IST.