Sheetal Devi: Toast of India camp with Hangzhou encore of three medals

• Sheetal Devi wins two golds and a silver, matching her three-medal haul from Hangzhou.

• Her qualifying score of 704 matches the world record and sets new Asian and Asian Para Games records.

• India collect 26 medals, including seven golds, to take their overall tally to 88 and fourth place in the standings.

It may have been India’s best-ever day at the Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Thursday, 22 October, but world champion para archer Sheetal Devi stole the limelight by emulating her three-medal haul at Hangzhou three years ago, with two golds and a silver.

For the 19-year-old armless archer from the Kashmir Valley, who has attracted considerable attention ever since breaking onto the scene a few years ago, managing expectations comes almost naturally. In the women’s compound individual final on Thursday, Sheetal was trailing 55-59 early on against Singapore’s Alim Nur Syahidah, but remained unfazed and shot back-to-back perfect ends of 30 to secure the gold with a 142-139 win.

Earlier in the day, she joined forces with fellow archer Toman Kumar to secure India’s first archery gold of the Games by defeating Indonesia’s Teodora Audi Ayudia Ferelly and Ken Swagumilang in a tense final. Sheetal won her third medal of the Games by claiming silver alongside teammate Payal Nag in the women’s compound doubles.

The qualifying round of the women’s compound individual event on Thursday morning saw Sheetal get into a zone as she scored 704 points out of a possible 720, matching the world record set by Türkiye’s Oznur Cure Girdi. Sheetal also improved her own Asian record of 698, set in Bangkok in March, and raised the Asian Para Games record from 680 to 704.

She maintained her pace throughout the round, scoring 352 points in each half, with 32 Xs and 25 10s, to secure the top seed in the women’s compound event.

Elsewhere, Indian para athletes appeared to be making up for lost time as they scooped up 26 medals during the day, including seven golds, in a major medal rush across athletics, archery, swimming, badminton and table tennis. The haul took India’s overall tally to 88. Suvarna Raj, Shailesh Kumar, Anjanaben Bumbadiya, Dilip Mahadu Gavit and Solairaj Dharmaraj were among the other gold medallists on a memorable day.

India’s 88 medals comprise 21 golds, 26 silvers and 41 bronzes. The seven additional golds propelled the country to fourth place in the medals table, behind China (314 medals), Japan (136) and Uzbekistan (120).