Dave Cousins. File photo: Special Arrangement.

One of the most inspirational stories in Indian sports arose during the Paris Paralympics 2024, when armless archer Sheetal Devi came into prominence. Then 17, Sheetal was regarded as one of the finest para-archers in the world despite not having arms, and backed up her reputation by winning bronze in the mixed team compound category at Paralympics 2024, alongside Rakesh Kumar. Industrialist and Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra had made a promise to Sheetal to gift her a car, and that has now been fulfilled.

After a bullseye hit by Sheetal Devi had gone viral, Anand Mahindra had posted on social media that he had promised her any car from the Mahindra range, which would be customised specially for her.

As per Mahindra, Devi had said that she would take the gift only after she turned 18.

Now, having turned 18 on January 10, Mahindra has seemingly lived up to the promise, as Sheetal was gifted a Mahindra Scorpio N SUV.

I have long admired @archersheetal ‘s talent from afar. Meeting her in person, I was struck by her remarkable determination, tenacity and focus.

Speaking to her mother and sister, it was clear that it runs in the family!

She gifted me an arrow, a symbol of her identity as an… pic.twitter.com/SFY8RCf6iM

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 28, 2025

“I have long admired Sheetal Devi’s talent from afar. Meeting her in person, I was struck by her remarkable determination, tenacity and focus,” Mahindra tweeted.

“Sheetal is an inspiration to us all, and I am proud to see her in a Scorpio N, a fitting steed for her as she continues to rise to new heights,” he concluded.

Sheetal caught the eye of one and all during Paralympics 2024 with her unique style of archery. Despite being born with a rare congenital disease called phocomelia, the girl from Jammu has become a superb archer.

At the time of the Paralympics, Sheetal was ranked as the No. 1 archer in the women’s open compound category.

Not only did she win a medal at the Paralympics, Sheetal is also the first and only international para-archery champion without upper limbs. She has also won two golds and a silver at the 2022 Para Asian Games.

Having successfully changed the colour of his medal from bronze at Tokyo Paralympics to gold at Paris, India’s star para archer Harvinder Singh’s next target is to continue his successful run and complete his PhD. The first Indian para archer to have won a Paralympics medal at Tokyo, Harvinder rewrote history when he bagged the country’s maiden gold in the men’s recurve event at Paris on Thursday. “The preparations were going well in India at SAI Sonipat where I had both my coaches and that helped a lot. We came to France 15 days before (the event) and I was shooting well,” he told the media on Friday while discussing his preparations for the Paralympics.

“I was working on a few technical aspects. I wanted to go to Korea about 3-4 months ago but the coach was called here at SAI Sonipat,” said Harvinder, who has a disability in his legs following a medical mishap when he was one-and-a-half years old.

A local doctor administered him an injection which left him unable to move his legs properly after he had contracted dengue.

The first Indian to win a Paralympics medal in archery at Tokyo, Harvinder said he felt what the pressure of expectations means while he was preparing for Paris.

“The way the others would wish ‘best of luck’, it would be in a way that would convey to me that I now needed to change the colour (of the medal). It tells you the kind of exceptions that are there,” he said.

Harvinder, who was drawn into para archery after the 2012 Olympics, said he aims to finish his PhD which had to be put on the hold as his career took off in sports.

“I was active in studies until 2018. From 2012, I would study in the morning and practice in the evening and there would be days when I would have two sessions,” he said.

“I got busier in sports after I got the medal (gold in Asian Para Games) in 2018 and because of all of that, my PhD got delayed.” “I am doing PhD in economics from the Punjab University in Patiala, and since I have to win medals for the country, preparations for big tournaments also happened at big level which does not give me time, but I hope to finish my PhD in the next few months,” Harvinder said.

The 33-year-old also wants to relive the experience of seeing the Indian flag held up high and the national anthem being played as he wishes to win more medals.

“Every athlete dreams to win the gold medals, that their country’s flag flies high, the national anthem gets sung… all that happened here and I would hope that I am able to replicate it in the next competitions such as the World Championships,” he said.

Harvinder said he was mentally prepared to tackle the pressure in the Paralympics.

“I had handled the pressure before, of the semifinals and of the podium. I had it in my mind that I have to win (the gold), but the challenge was to bring it out in terms of performance and we were successful in it,” he said.

Harvinder hoped his feat in Paris is able to inspire lot many para athletes and bring more competitors to archery in general.

“The next challenge for me is to maintain this performance. I had got a lot of phone calls and messages after winning the the medal in Tokyo. This medal will contribute in the growth of para archery and archery in India,” he said.

Pooja Jatyan in action© X (formerly Twitter)

India suffered heartbreak from the archery arena as Sarita Kumari’s splendid run ended in quarterfinals, while armless wonder Sheetal Devi crashed out of the last-16 in the compound women’s open category at the Paralympics in Paris Paralympics 2024 on Saturday. Faridabad’s Sarita, who qualified as ninth seed, had a dominating outings in the first and second rounds before top-seed Oznur Cure Girdi of Korea halted her dream run in the last eight. Oznur, who smashed the world record to top the qualifying round with a score of 704 out of a maximum 720 points, shot three perfect 10s in the second end to take a healthy five-point lead.

Sarita took the third end and matched Oznur’s 30 with a perfect fourth end, but the Turkey archer remained four points in the lead, riding on her strong starts and wrapped it up with a 29 in the fifth end.

Sheetal, who draws the arrow with her toes, endured a blip in the second end where she shot the 7-point red ring to go down to Tokyo silver medalist Mariana Zuniga of Chile 137-138 in the pre-quarters.

All eyes were on Asian Para Games double gold medalist Sheetal, who also had bettered the previous world record of 698 shooting 703, to get a bye into the last-16 round.

Sheetal started out on a positive note as she hit two X dropped one point to take the opening set 29-28.

But her 7-point in the second arrow gave the Chilean seasoned archer the much-needed opening as she won the second end 27-26 to make it level (55-all).

It was a neck-and-neck affair for the duo in the next eight arrows, before Mariana edged out Sheetal in the final arrow by shooting a 9 as the Paralympics debutant Sheetal slipped to the 8-ring to lose by one-point.

On a day second seed Sheetal suffered an early elimination, ninth seed Sarita put up a dominated from the start to down Italy’s Eleonora Sarti 141-135 in a one-sided affair in her pre-quarters.

The ninth seeded Sarita, who won a team silver medal at the Asian Para Games last year, dropped just one point to take a four-point lead in the first end.

There was no looking back as she stretched the lead to five points in the second end where she shot one X (closer to the centre).

Her higher-ranked Italian rival pulled off two 10s and took the third end, but Sarita remained in control and sealed the issue with two solid ends.

Sarita earlier knocked out Nur Jannaton Abdul Jalil of Malaysia 138-124 in her first round clash.

In the open class, archers shoot from a sitting position at a distance of 50m at an 80cm five-ring target made up of the 10-6 point bands.

India’s schedule at Paris Paralympics 2024, August 31: After a memorable Friday at the ongoing Para Games, India would hope to continue the run on Saturday as well. Indian archer Sheetal Devi will be in action among the other stars from the nation on the day. The armless archer finished second in the women’s individual compound open ranking round with a stunning performance to directly make a round of 16 entry on Thursday, raising the country’s hopes for another podium finish. (Paris Paralympics 2024 medals tally)

12:00 PM: Para badminton – Mandeep Kaur vs Celine Aureline Vinot (Australia) – Women’s Singles SL3 Group B (Group Stage)

1:00 PM: Para shooting – Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar – R1 Men’s 10m Air Rifle SH1 Standing (Qualification)

1:20 PM: Para badminton – Nitish Kumar vs Mongkhon Bunsun (Thailand) – Men’s Singles SL3 Group A (Group Stage)

1:30 PM: Para cycling – Jyoti Gaderiya – Women’s 500m Time Trial C1-C3 (Qualification)

1:49 PM: Para cycling – Arshad Shaik – Men’s 1000m Time Trial C1-C3 (Qualification)

2:00 PM: Para badminton – Manoj Sarkar vs Ynag Jianyuan (China) – Men’s Singles SL3 Group A (Group Stage)

2:40 PM: Para rowing – Anita/Narayana – PR 3 Mixed Doubles Sculls (Repechage)

2:40 PM: Para badminton – Sukant Kadam vs Siripong Teamarrom (Thailand) – Men’s Singles SL4 Group B (Group Stage)

3:20 PM: Para badminton – Tarun Dhillon vs Lucas Mazur (France) – Men’s Singles SL4 Group D (Group Stage)

3:30 PM: Para shooting – Rubina Francis – P2 Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 (Qualification)

3:45 PM: Para shooting – Subject to Qualification – R1 Men’s 10m Air Rifle SH1 Standing (Finals)

4:00 PM: Para badminton – Manisha Ramadas vs Yang Qiu Xia (China) – Women’s Singles SU5 Group C (Group Stage)

5:05 PM: Para cycling – Subject to Qualification – Women’s 500m Time Trial C1-C3 (Finals)

5:32 PM: Para cycling – Subject to Qualification – Men’s 1000m Time Trial C1-C3 (Finals)

6:15 PM: Para shooting – Subject to Qualification – P2 Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 (Finals)

7.00 PM: Para archery – Sarita vs Eleonara Sarti (Italy) – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Round of 16)

8:59 PM: Para archery – Sheetal Devi vs Mariana Zuniga (Chile) – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Round of 16)

9:16 PM: Para archery – Subject to Qualification – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Quarterfinals)

10:24 PM: Para archery – Subject to Qualification – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Semifinals)

10:30 PM: Para athletics – Parveen Kumar – Men’s Javelin F57 (Finals)

11:13 PM: Para archery – Subject to Qualification – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Bronze Medal Match)

11:30 PM: Para archery – Subject to Qualification – Women’s Individual Compound Open (Finals)

Paris 2024 Paralympics LIVE: Here’s India’s Day 2 schedule!

Para Badminton

12 PM: Manasi Joshi vs Oksana Kozyna (Ukraine) in Women’s Singles SL3 Group Play Stage

1:20 PM: Manoj Sarkar vs Mongkhon Bunsun (Thailand) in Men’s Singles SL3 Group Play Stage

2 PM: Nitesh Kumar vs Jianyuan Yang (China) in Men’s Singles SL3 Group Play Stage

2:40 PM: Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj vs Kyung Hwan Shin (Korea) in Men’s Singles SL4 Group Play Stage

4:40 PM: Palak Kohli vs Leani Ratri Oktila (Indonesia) in Women’s Singles SL4 Group Play Stage

7:30 PM: Thulasimathi Murugesan vs Beatriz Monteiro (Portugal) in Women’s Singles SU5 Group Play Stage

8:10 PM: Sivarajan Solaimalai vs Man Kai Chu in Men’s Singles SH6 Group Play Stage

8:50 PM: Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan vs Yi-Lin Cai (Chinese Taipei) in Women’s Singles SH6 Group Play Stage

10:50 PM: Krishna Nagar vs Miles Krajewski in Men’s Singles SH6 Group Play Stage

12:10 AM (31 August, Saturday): Nitesh Kumar/Thulasimathi Murugesan vs Lucas Mazur/Faustine Noel (France) in Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5 Group Play Stage

12:10 AM (31 August, Saturday): Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj/Palak Kohli vs Hikmat Ramdani/Leani Ratri Oktila (Indonesia) in Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5 Group Play Stage

01:30 AM (31 August, Saturday): Sivarajan Solaimalai/Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan vs Natthapong Meechai/Chai Saeyang (Thailand) in Mixed Doubles SH6 Group Play Stage

Para Shooting

12:30 PM: Avani Lekhara, Mona Agarwal in Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 Qualification

2:45 PM: Rudransh Khandelwal, Manish Narwal in Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 Qualification

3:15 PM: Avani Lekhara, Mona Agarwal in Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 Final (If qualified)

5 PM: Sriharsha Devaraddi Ramakrishna in Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH2 Qualification

5:30 PM: Rudransh Khandelwal, Manish Narwal in Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 Final (If qualified)

7:45 PM: Sriharsha Devaraddi Ramakrishna in Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH2 Final (If qualified)

Para Athletics

1:30 PM: Jyoti Karam, Sakshi Kasana in Women’s Discus Throw – F55 Final

4:45 PM: Preethi Pal in Women’s 100m – T35 Final

12:22 AM: Manu in Men’s Shot Put – F37 Final

Para Rowing

3 PM: Anita/Narayana Konganapalle in PR3 Mixed Double Sculls Heats

Para Archery

3:03 PM: Sarita vs Nur Jannaton Abdul Jalil (Malaysia) in Women’s Individual Compound Open 1/16 Elimination

Para Cycling Track

4:24 PM: Arshad Shaik in Men’s C2 3000m Individual Pursuit Qualifying

India’s armless archer Sheetal Devi finished second in the women’s individual compound open ranking round with a stunning performance to directly make a round of 16 entry in the Paris Paralympics on Thursday. The 17-year-old Devi from Jammu and Kashmir, who shoots with her legs as she was born without arms, scored a total of 703 points out of possible 720 to finish second behind Oznur Girdi Cure of Turkey, who set a ranking round world record of 704 points. In fact, Devi also got past the ranking round world record of 698 set by Phoebe Pine Paterson of Great Britain earlier this month, but the Turkish archer overtook her to claim the coveted mark.

Devi shot 59 10s and 24 Xs while her Turkish opponent had 56 10s and 29 Xs in the 72-arrow contest on the opening day of competitions at the Paralympic Games. The top-four finishers in the ranking round, including Devi, got byes from the round of 32 competition and they will feature in the round of 16 on Saturday.

Devi will face the winner of 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 in the Tokyo Paralympics.

Other Indian in the fray, Sarita finished ninth with a score of 682 and will face Abdul Jalil Nur Jannaton of Malaysia in the round of 32 on Friday.

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 in a single edition of the Games. She had won a third medal — a silver — also.

She had won gold medals in the women’s individual compound as well as mixed team event and a silver in the women’s doubles in Hangzhou.

Discovered at a military camp in a remote part of Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir 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.

In the men’s individual recurve open ranking round, Tokyo Paralympics bronze medallist Harvinder Singh finished ninth with a score of 637.

He faces Tseng Lung-Hui of Chinese Taipei in the round of 32 on September 4.

In men’s individual compound open ranking round, Rakesh Kumar and Shyam Sundar Swami finished fifth and 15th with scores of 696 and 688 respectively.

In women’s individual recurve open ranking round, Pooja finished seventh with a score of 585.

In para-archery, athletes of two classes — wheelchair (W1, W2) and open — can compete (in same event) at the Paralympic Games.

For para-archers competing in wheelchairs, their arms must demonstrate some degree of loss of muscle strength, co-ordination, or range of movement.

Para-archers in open category can compete in a wheelchair, standing up or leaning on a stool. They have either extremely limited movement in their trunk and limbs with normal arm function or balance issues.

Devi competes in standing position while Oznur Girdi Cure of Turkey, who finished first in the ranking round, is of W2 category.

Competitions include a ranking round where the archers shoot 72 arrows (12 ends of six arrows each) over distances of 50m or 70m. Each archer has four minutes to shoot their six arrows.

After the ranking round, para-archers compete head-to-head in elimination rounds consisting of five ends, with athletes using three arrows per end.

Para-archery events include recurve and compound bows, as well as mixed team.

After announcing India’s aspiration to host the 2036 Olympics in his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked for Indian athletes’ input for the smooth hosting of the quadrennial extravaganza in 2036. Notably, India will be bidding to host the Olympic Games in 2036. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has also initiated the dialogue process with the Future Host Commission (FHC).

The PM had invited the entire Indian contingent from Paris Olympics to join in on the Independence Day celebrations at his residence in New Delhi. While addressing them, he asked athletes, who had competed in previous Olympics, to share their insights and recommendations, which would help the nation prepare to host the Games in 2036.

“India is preparing to host the 2036 Olympics. In this regard, the input from athletes who have played in previous Olympics is very important. You all must have observed and experienced many things. We want to document this and share it with the government so that we don’t miss out on any small details in the preparation for 2036,” PM Modi said.

Further, PM Modi referred to the Indian contingent as an integral part of his “2036 team” and asked the sports ministry to draft a document and thoroughly consider player comments and suggestions.

“In this way, you are an important part of my 2036 team, helping us host an Olympics like no other in the world. I would like the Sports Ministry to prepare a draft and gather detailed feedback from athletes so that we can plan well,” he added.

“You athletes should also give us suggestions on how to improve Indian sports further. Your feedback and suggestions are very important because it’s your responsibility to guide those who will represent the country in the future. You should interact with players on social media. The Sports Ministry can also organise such sessions in different places.

The allotment of hosting rights for the Olympics is done by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through a detailed host selection process. The IOC has a dedicated body, the Future Host Commission, which deals with this subject.

The interested National Olympics Committees (NOCs) are required to initiate a dialogue with the FHC, which subsequently becomes a continuous dialogue and finally, a targeted dialogue with the selected NOCs.

Once the FHC completes this dialogue, the IOC Executive Board holds an election wherein the members vote for the award of the hosting rights for the concerned Olympic Games.