Paris Paralympics 2024: Take a bow, Sheetal!

The Indian contingent during the opening ceremony of the Paralympics in Paris on Wednesday. Pic/AP, PTI

India's armless archer Sheetal Devi finished second in the women's individual compound open ranking round with a stunning performance to directly enter the round of 16 at the Paris Paralympics on Thursday.

Devi, 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 Turkey's 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 Britain's Phoebe Paterson earlier this month, but the Turkish archer overtook her to claim the coveted mark.

The top four finishers here, including Devi, got byes from the round of 32 and will feature in the pre-quarters 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 women's individual compound open at the Tokyo Paralympics.

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India's Sheetal Devi competes in the women's individual compound event at the Paralympic Games in Paris yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

Devi had become a sensation during last year's 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 (women's doubles).

Discovered at a military camp in a remote part of Kishtwar in J&K 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 underdeveloped.

India shuttlers shine!

India's Sukant Kadam, Suhas Yathiraj and Tarun won their respective opening men's 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 Malaysia's Mohd Amin Burhanuddin 17-21, 21-15, 22-20. Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist Suhas then cruised to a 21-7, 21-5 win in just 22 minutes against Indonesia's Hikmat Ramdani.

In his second Olympics, Tarun, who had badly injured his knee after an accident while playing football, beat Brazil's Oliveira Rogerio Xavier 21-17, 21-19 in a men's singles SL4 match. SL4 is for athletes, who demonstrate lower limb impairment and minor balance problems in walking or running. In women's singles, India's Palak Kohli got the better of Milena Surreau of France 21-12, 21-14 in a SL4 group match. Also, Manisha Ramadass rallied to beat France's Maud Lefort 8-21, 21-6, 21-19 in the SU5 category for athletes whose upper limbs are impaired.

Indians in action today

>> Para badminton (women's singles): 12:00 Manasi Joshi v Oksana Kozyna (Ukraine) 16:40 Palak Kohli v Leane Oktila (Indonesia), 19:30 M Thulasimathi v Beatriz Monteiro (Portugal) 20:50 Nithya Sre SS v Cai Yi-Lin (Chinese Taipei)

(Men's singles): 13:20 onwards Manoj Sarkar v Mongkhun Bunsun (Thailand), 14:00 Nitesh Kumar v Yang Jianyuan (China), 14:40 Suhay LY v Shin Kyun Hwan (Korea), 20:10 Sivarajan Solaimalai v Chi Man Kai (Hong Kong), 22:50 Krishna Nagar v Miles Krajewski (USA)

(Mixed doubles): 00:10 Nitesh-Murugesan v Mazur-Noel (France), Yathiraj-Kohli v Oktila-Ramdani (Indoenesia), 00:10 Solaimalai-Sumathy v Meechai-Seeyang (Thailand)

>> Para shooting (women's 10m air rifle): 12:30 onwards Avani Lekhara, Mona Agarwal, (10m air pistol men's qualification): 14:45 Rudransh Khandelwal, Manish Narwal (10m mixed air rifle): 17:00 Sriharsha DR

>> Para athletics (women's discus throw): 13:30 Karam Jyoti, Sakshi Kasana, (women's 100m): 16:45 Preethi Pal, (men's shot put): 21:30 Manu

>> Para rowing (mixed double sculls): 15:00 Anita, K Narayana

>> Para Cycling (men's 3000m): 16:24 Arshad Shaik

>> Para archery (women's compound): 20:59 Sheetal Devi

179
Strength of Indian paralympics contingent

84
No of Indian athletes at Paris Paralympics

12
No of sporting disciplines India will compete in

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