Para archery ranking series: Sheetal Devi-Sarita pair wins gold
India’s Sheetal Devi and Sarita defeated Jodie Grinham and Phoebe Paterson Pine of Great Britain to win women’s compound gold at the Para Archery Ranking series in Czech Republic.
The Indian duo scored 157 out of the possible 160, triumphing over the British pair.
Sheetal was bestowed the Arjuna award earlier this year for her two gold and a silver medal winning performance in the Hangzhou Asian Para Games.
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The 16-year-old, who hails from Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir, was born with phocomelia, a disorder causing underdeveloped limbs. Without arms, she learned to use a bow and arrow using her feet and started training fulltime in archery only two years ago.
Sarita, on the other hand, won bronze in the women’s compound archery open section of the Para Asian Archery Championship winning the all-Indian play-off for bronze defeating compatriot Jyoti Baliyan 139–135. She also won a silver medal in the team event along with Sheetal Devi, to whom she lost the semifinal in the individual event.
The two Indian’s failed to make it to the gold medal round and will be facing each other in the bronze medal match.