Paralympics 2024: Sheetal Devi shoots her personal best to finish second

Sheetal Devi shot 703 out of 720, an incredible score above the world record.

Paralympics 2024 is ongoing, and one of the latest stars from India to shine bright at the Games is Sheetal Devi. She shot her personal best to finish second in the Paralympic compound ranking round. She shot a spectacular 703 out of 720, a score above the world record; however, she came second in the compound ranking round at the Games.

Sheetal Devi finishes second in the compound ranking round at the Paralympics.

The Indian para-archer is seen as one of the top contenders to win gold for India at the Paralympics (World Archery). She made her debut at this year’s Games and gave her personal best shot at finishing second by breaking the world record score as it existed before the Paris 2024 women’s individual compound open ranking round. On Thursday, she scored 703 out of 720, which is enough to break the existing world record. However, Turkey’s Oznur Cure Girdi went ahead, scoring 704, making a new world record.

17-year-old Indian Paralympics athlete shines bright at 2024 Paralympics.

The 17-year-old is an Indian Paralympic archer who was born with a rare medical condition called phocomelia, which caused her to be born without arms. Sheetal Devi is the first and the only international para-archery champion without upper limbs, and still, she went ahead in shining bright at her debut at the 2024 Paralympics. She will now feature in the round of 16, where she will face the winner of the round 32 matches between Mariana Zuniga of Chile and Choi Na Mi of Korea, who finished 15th and 18th, respectively.

This is the second time Sheetal Devi broke the existing world record in the same month, having earlier broken Great Britain’s Phoebe Pine Paterson’s score of 698. Sheetal Devi also became the first armless woman to win a Para World Archery Championships medal last year. At the Asian Para Games last year, she stunned everyone, becoming the first Indian woman to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Games.