Bull’s eye under pressure: Para archer Sheetal wins major gold in Ahmedabad
Reigning world champion Sheetal Devi performed her best under pressure in front of her home crowd in Ahmedabad to win her first individual title at the World Archery Para Series on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old Indian defeated Kazakhstan’s Aizada Seidan 10-9 in the shoot-out after both archers finished the women’s compound final tied 144-144. It was a fitting end to a competition in which Sheetal had already underlined her form by topping the qualifiers with a season’s best 698 – a score that also bettered her own Asian record by one point.
The tension of the gunfight hardly seemed to affect Sheetal. She smiled after shooting a perfect 10, hitting the inner ring and pushing Seidan hard. The Indian team gathered around the range already knew the gold was theirs before the Kazakh archer fired. Seidan could only manage nine, sparking celebrations as Sheetal won gold on the final day of the World Archery Para Series Stage III in Ahmedabad.
Sheetal placed first after her 698 in qualifying, finishing 10 points ahead of Seidan and making it to the first round. Her performance also made India’s first international hosting of the World Archery Para Series an event to remember.
The title comes at an important time for Sheetal, with the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games less than two months away. She will head to Japan to defend the women’s singles and mixed team titles she won at the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou.
Sheetal also won the mixed team bronze in Ahmedabad along with Toman Kumar. The Indian pair beat Iraq’s Sara Al-Hamid and Abbas Kadhim 157-145 in the bronze medal match.
India enjoyed a strong penultimate day at the event, winning two golds and two silvers and adding a bronze. Reigning world champions Toman Kumar and Shyam Sundar Swami won the men’s combined team title with a 152-139 victory over Iraq, while Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi beat Slovakia 6-2 in the men’s recurve team final. Bhawna and Pooja won silver in the women’s team event in recurse.
SIGNIFICANT TROPHY CABINET
For Sheetal, however, the Ahmedabad gold adds another significant chapter to a remarkable rise.
She became her the first woman without arms to win the para archery world title when she won the women’s crown at the 2025 World Archery 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 champion at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, where she won individual and mixed team gold and team silver.
At Paris 2024, Sheetal became India’s youngest Paralympic medalist at the age of 17 when she won the mixed team bronze with Rakesh Kumar. She is also ranked No. 1 in the world in combined women’s para archery and was named the winner of women’s para at the 2023 World Archery Awards.
Now with a world title, a Paralympic medal, two Asian Para Games golds and a maiden World Para Series individual title under her belt, Sheetal heads to Aichi-Nagoya with yet another reminder that pressure is increasingly her territory.
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Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
09 Sep 2026 18:38 IST