Kolkata : Indian icon and World No 1 Para Archer Sheetal Devi produced a stunning display of calmness under pressure, clinching Para Compound Women’s individual gold in a dramatic shoot-off as India signed off the World Archery Para Series Stage III with six medals in Ahmedabad.
The reigning world champion was pushed all the way by Kazakhstan’s Aizada Seidan in a closely fought final, but held her nerve when it mattered most to secure gold with a perfect 10 in the shoot-off. India finished the final day with two gold and four bronze medals.
Neither Sheetal nor Seidan was willing to give away an advantage early in the contest. Both archers began with perfect 30s and were tied at 59 after two ends. Seidan then edged ahead in the third end, scoring 28 to Sheetal’s 27. The fourth ended 29-29, leaving the Indian one point behind heading into the final end.
With the gold medal on the line, Sheetal responded brilliantly. She shot 29 while Seidan managed 28, taking the scores to 144-144 and forcing a shoot-off.
Sheetal then delivered the decisive arrow, hitting a perfect 10. Seidan could only manage a nine, handing the Indian archer another major title.
The individual gold also gave Sheetal a second medal of the competition. Earlier, she had partnered Toman Kumar to bronze in the compound mixed team event. The Indian duo defeated Iraq’s Sara Al Hamid and Abbas Kadim 157-145 in the bronze-medal playoff.Sheetal and Toman were consistent throughout, shooting 39 in each of the first three ends before producing a perfect 40 in the final end.
The titles come at an important time for Sheetal, with the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games less than two months away. She will head to Japan looking to defend the compound women’s individual and mixed-team titles she won at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games.
Paralympics champion Harvinder Singh added another gold for India alongside Bhawna in the para recurve mixed team event.
The Indian pair made light work of China’s Liang Qiurong and Xia Lei, completing a 6-0 victory. Harvinder and Bhawna won the opening set 35-31 and followed it with a 36-33 victory in the second. They then sealed the clean sweep by taking the third set 34-32.
Bhawna later added an individual bronze to her gold, defeating compatriot Rajshree Rathod 6-0 in an all-Indian para recurve women’s bronze-medal playoff.
India also secured bronze in the para compound women’s individual event, with Sarita edging China’s Wang Huiting 141-140. Toman Kumar completed the final-day medal haul by defeating Iraq’s Abbas Kadhim 143-138 for bronze in the para compound men’s individual event.
India’s final-day haul of two gold and four bronze medals capped an impressive Stage III campaign on home soil.
For Sheetal, though, the Ahmedabad gold adds another significant chapter to a remarkable rise.
She became the first woman without arms to win a para archery world title when she claimed the compound women’s crown at the 2025 World Archery Para Championships in Gwangju, defeating defending champion znur Cre Girdi 146-143. She had already won silver at the 2023 World Championships before becoming a two-time Asian Para Games champion in Hangzhou, where she won individual and mixed-team gold and a team silver.
At Paris 2024, Sheetal became India’s youngest Paralympic medallist at 17 when she won compound mixed-team bronze with Rakesh Kumar. She has also been ranked world No. 1 in compound women’s para archery and was named the para women’s winner at the 2023 World Archery Awards.
Now, with a world title, a Paralympic medal, two Asian Para Games golds and her first individual World Para Series title already on her rsume, Sheetal heads towards Aichi-Nagoya with another reminder that pressure is increasingly becoming her territory.
