Paris Paralympics 2024: Take a bow, Sheetal!

Indiarsquos armless archer Sheetal Devi finished second in the womenrsquos individual compound open ranking round with a stunning performance to directly enter the round of 16 at the Paris Paralympics on ThursdayDevi 17 from Jammu and Kashmir who shoots with her legs as she was born without arms scored 703 points out of a possible 720 to finish second behind Turkeyrsquos Oznur Girdi Cure who set a ranking round world record of 704 points In fact Devi also briefly broke the previous WR of 698 set by Britainrsquos Phoebe Paterson earlier this month but the Turkish archer overtook her to claim the coveted markThe top four finishers here including Devi got byes from the round of 32 and will feature in the prequarters on Saturday Devi will face the winner of the round of 32 match between Mariana Zuniga of Chile and Choi Na Mi of Korea who finished 15th and 18th respectively in the ranking round Zuniga had won a silver in the womenrsquos individual compound open at the Tokyo ParalympicsAlso ReadMo Salah wants to enjoy his last year at LiverpoolIndiarsquos Sheetal Devi competes in the womenrsquos individual compound event at the Paralympic Games in Paris yesterday PicGetty ImagesDevi had become a sensation during last yearrsquos Asian Para Games in Hangzhou China where she became the first Indian woman to win two gold medals individual compound and mixed team at a single edition She also won a silver womenrsquos doublesDiscovered at a military camp in a remote part of Kishtwar in JampK and adopted by the Indian army in her childhood Devi also became the first armless woman to win a Para World Archery Championships medal last year Devi was born with phocomelia syndrome a rare congenital disorder which kept her limbs underdevelopedIndia shuttlers shineIndiarsquos Sukant Kadam Suhas Yathiraj and Tarun won their respective opening menrsquos singles SL4 group matches to make a resounding start in para badminton at the Paralympics here on Thursday Sukant 31 who had suffered a knee injury after a bad fall on a cricket field when he was just 10 rallied from a game down to beat Malaysiarsquos Mohd Amin Burhanuddin 1721 2115 2220 Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist Suhas then cruised to a 217 215 win in just 22 minutes against Indonesiarsquos Hikmat RamdaniIn his second Olympics Tarun who had badly injured his knee after an accident while playing football beat Brazilrsquos Oliveira Rogerio Xavier 2117 2119 in a menrsquos singles SL4 match SL4 is for athletes who demonstrate lower limb impairment and minor balance problems in walking or running In womenrsquos singles Indiarsquos Palak Kohli got the better of Milena Surreau of France 2112 2114 in a SL4 group match Also Manisha Ramadass rallied to beat Francersquos Maud Lefort 821 216 2119 in the SU5 category for athletes whose upper limbs are impairedIndians in action todaygtgt Para badminton womenrsquos singles 1200 Manasi Joshi v Oksana Kozyna Ukraine 1640 Palak Kohli v Leane Oktila Indonesia 1930 M Thulasimathi v Beatriz Monteiro Portugal 2050 Nithya Sre SS v Cai YiLin Chinese TaipeiMenrsquos singles 1320 onwards Manoj Sarkar v Mongkhun Bunsun Thailand 1400 Nitesh Kumar v Yang Jianyuan China 1440 Suhay LY v Shin Kyun Hwan Korea 2010 Sivarajan Solaimalai v Chi Man Kai Hong Kong 2250 Krishna Nagar v Miles Krajewski USAMixed doubles 0010 NiteshMurugesan v MazurNoel France YathirajKohli v OktilaRamdani Indoenesia 0010 SolaimalaiSumathy v MeechaiSeeyang Thailandgtgt Para shooting womenrsquos 10m air rifle 1230 onwards Avani Lekhara Mona Agarwal 10m air pistol menrsquos qualification 1445 Rudransh Khandelwal Manish Narwal 10m mixed air rifle 1700 Sriharsha DRgtgt Para athletics womenrsquos discus throw 1330 Karam Jyoti Sakshi Kasana womenrsquos 100m 1645 Preethi Pal menrsquos shot put 2130 Manugtgt Para rowing mixed double sculls 1500 Anita K Narayanagtgt Para Cycling menrsquos 3000m 1624 Arshad Shaikgtgt Para archery womenrsquos compound 2059 Sheetal Devi179Strength of Indian paralympics contingent84No of Indian athletes at Paris Paralympics12No of sporting disciplines India will compete inThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever