India has secured its first gold medal in archery at the Asian Para Games, courtesy of an outstanding performance by Sheetal Devi and Toman Kumar. The duo triumphed in the mixed compound team event by defeating Indonesia's Teodora Audi Ayudia Ferelli and Ken Swagumilang with a score of 151-148 in a one-sided summit clash.
Complete Dominance from Start to Finish
The top-seeded Indian pair, who had earlier set a world record in the qualifying rounds, maintained their lead from the very beginning of the final. The Indian team took a 38-37 lead in the first set and further extended their advantage to four points by scoring 77-73 in the second set, dropping just a single point during the process.
Sustaining the Lead Under Pressure
Although the Indonesian team managed to win the third set by a single point, the Indian pair retained a comfortable three-point cushion. In the final set, both teams scored 38 points each, which was sufficient for India to secure a three-point victory and claim the gold medal.
A Remarkable Journey and World Record Feat
Earlier, Sheetal and Toman had set a new world record by accumulating 1402 points in the qualifying round. Sheetal, who was born without arms, uses her feet to position the bow and relies on her shoulders and jaw to pull and release the string, demonstrating extraordinary resilience.
Setting New Asian Games Benchmarks
During the women's compound archery ranking round, Sheetal equaled the world record by scoring 704 points, becoming the second archer to share the record alongside Turkey's Oznur Cure. She improved upon her previous Asian record of 698 points set in March in Bangkok by six points. Sheetal scored 352-352 in both halves of the qualification round and hit 32 'X's and 25 '10's to claim the top spot. With this stellar display, she surpassed her previous record of 680 points set in Hangzhou in 2023, establishing a fresh Asian Games benchmark.
