Mumbai: Repetition may be unglamorous, but it is at the heart of a precision sport like archery. Load, aim, shoot, repeat. Archer Sheetal Devi has also added a staple celebration for every new milestone she achieves.
“She will smile, be emotional, and she will say ‘humne kar diya. I’ve done it.’ That’s the same thing she says every time she wins” said her coach Gaurav Sharma.
It is a process that goes on like clockwork. And on Thursday, she celebrated the same way once again. Only this time, there was a bit more emotion. After all, the 18-year-old – who in September became the first armless woman to win gold at the World Para Archery Championship – had become the first para-athlete from the country to be selected for an able-bodied Indian team in an international archery competition.
She finished in third place in the women’s individual compound archery trials to secure a spot for the continental event.
“We were shocked, we were happy, we were emotional,” said Sharma after she made the cut in the national trials in Sonipat for the Junior Asia Cup Stage 3, which will be held in Saudi Arabia next month.
That same celebration followed. Only, this particular achievement was extra special for Sheetal.
“When I started competing, I had a small dream – to one day compete alongside the able-bodied,” Sheetal wrote on social media. “I didn’t make it at first, but I kept going, learning from every setback. Today, that dream is one step closer.”
A step up
“This was unexpected,” Sharma added. “But you never know with Sheetal. Her biggest strength is her willpower, and competing in an international able-bodied event has been her target for at least a year now. She’s already a para world champion and has won a paralympics medal. This was the next thing she wanted to do.”
Competing alongside able-bodied archers though is not new for her. Sharma explained that Sheetal and Paris Paralympics gold medallist Harvinder Singh regularly train with able-bodied archers at the academy in Patiala. Then there’s also the determination to prove that she is an equal.
“She’s always got this in her mind that she can do things herself,” Sharma added.
She has now managed to make her way into the able-bodied stream, after conquering the para-archery world.
In 2023, barely two years after she took up the sport, Sheetal became the first armless woman archer to win a medal at the World Para Championships, clinching a silver. Later that year, she won a gold and silver medal at the Para Asian Games and had risen to the world No.1 spot in compound para archery.
At the Paralympics in 2024, she won bronze in the mixed team event – all before her 18th birthday.
For the trials in Sonipat however, preparation was not quite routine. In fact, after the World Championships, Sheetal decided to take a month-long break and head back to Loidhar, her village in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.
That break, perhaps, was all the preparation she needed.
“She met her family after a long time. She likes the food at home and milk a lot. She likes doing simple things like tending to the livestock there…” Sharma said. “By the time she came back (on October 27) her mind was completely fresh.”
The selection means that she has given the national federation a bit to think about, as the Junior Asia Cup Stage 3 clashes with the Youth Para Asian Games – in which she is the top ranked archer.
“The federation will have to decide that,” Sharma added. “But if it’s up to us, she’d like to go for the Asia Cup. Competing internationally against able-bodied archers, that will be extra special.”
