Shital Devi wins two gold medals at Asian Para Games, India secures 88 medals

Indian archery star Sital Devi has once again won the gold medal at the Asian Para Games. The 19-year-old Sital, who was born without arms, defeated Alim Nur Syahida from Singapore with a score of 142-139 in the final of the women's individual compound event, becoming the gold medalist for the second consecutive time. Notably, Sital managed to achieve victory by making an impressive comeback after falling behind her opponent.

Previously, at the 2023 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, Sital also defeated Alim in the final to win gold. This time, the confrontation between the two top archers was decisive, and the Indian athlete demonstrated the ability to remain calm under pressure.

During the final, Alim initially took a four-point lead by hitting six sixes in the first two rounds. This presented a serious challenge for Sital to recover in the game. However, the Indian archer showed outstanding performance in the next two rounds, consistently scoring ten points six times. Among these hits were three that landed very close to the center of the target and received the so-called 'X' score.

Thanks to this brilliant performance, Sital increased her advantage by two points. In the final stage, there were three arrows remaining, and the gold title was at stake. Sital scored nine points for each of the three arrows, adding a total of 27 points. Her opponent, Alim, performed weaker under pressure, scoring 9, 8, and 9 points in the last three arrows. Thus, she could only accumulate a total of 26 points in the final stage, allowing Sital to win with a score of 142-139 and secure the gold.

Before winning the individual event, Sital Devi had already won the gold medal in the mixed team compound event several hours earlier along with Toman Kumar. This brought her total number of gold medals at the current Asian Para Games to two. Earlier, Sital also received a silver medal in the women's doubles event with Payal Nag, who is an athlete with four limb impairments from Odisha. Thus, her total medal count reached three.

Sital Devi is from Jammu and Kashmir and is among the world's leading para-archers due to her exceptional skills. Her performance once again proved that she is capable of making a magnificent resurgence in tense matches despite the pressure.

Indian athletes demonstrated outstanding results at the Asian Para Games on Thursday, winning two gold medals. In shooting, the team of Shital Devi and Toman Kumar won the team tournament in mixed archery, while Suvarna Raj won gold in the women's F54 discus throw discipline.

Furthermore, Swati Chaudhary achieved a historic feat by bringing India its first medal in the W1 shooting category, although she had to settle for silver in the final due to a loss.

The highly ranked pair Shital Devi and Toman Kumar won the gold medal in the mixed team final, defeating the Indonesian pair with a score of 151-148. Prior to this, the Indian pair set a world record in the qualification round.

During the final, the Indian archers demonstrated brilliant shots from the beginning. In the first round, India gained a small advantage of 38-37. After the second round, the team's lead reached 77-73, and the Indian athletes maintained their dominance, winning the match by three points.

Shital Devi, who was born without arms, controls a composite bow with her feet and releases arrows using her shoulder and jaw to draw the string.

Indian Suvarna Raj won the gold medal in the women's F54 discus throw competition, achieving the best throw of 15.66 meters. The 44-year-old resident of Greater Noida threw the discus further than 15 meters four times out of six attempts.

She secured first place on the fifth attempt, reaching a distance of 15.66 meters. Silver was won by Shala Hadidi from Iran with a throw of 15.45 meters, and bronze by Ngoc Thuy Nguyen from Vietnam with a result of 14.65 meters.

The F54 category is intended for athletes whose trunk and lower limb functionality is impaired. In this category, competitions are held seated in a throwing chair, and throws are performed mainly using upper body strength and arm movement. Restrictions on trunk control also affect throwing technique.

Indian shooter Swati Chaudhary achieved a historic achievement by winning the silver medal in the individual W1 category for women. She became the first athlete to bring India a medal in this category at the Asian Para Games in shooting.

However, in the final, she faced a defeat with a score of 4-6 against Sen Mengkan from China. Highly ranked Swati initially took a lead of 4-2, but the Chinese archer managed to brilliantly recover, showing a consistently high level of play and winning the gold medal.

Swati, who trains at the Gurukul Shooting Academy in Merat under the guidance of Olympian Atens Satvedev Prasad, demonstrated a serious challenge in the final. Nevertheless, in the last two rounds, the Chinese player turned the tide of the match, leaving Swati with a silver medal, which was still a major achievement for Indian para-shooting.