India faced a significant setback in the archery arena at the Paris Paralympics 2024 on Saturday, as Sarita Kumari and Sheetal Devi were eliminated from the compound women’s open category . Sarita Kumari’s impressive run came to an end in the quarterfinals, while Sheetal Devi, known for her remarkable skills despite being armless, was knocked out in the last-16 round.
Faridabad’s Sarita, who entered the competition as the ninth seed, showcased dominant performances in the first and second rounds. However, her journey was halted by top-seed Oznur Cure Girdi from Korea in the quarterfinals. Oznur, who set a world record in the qualifiers with a score of 704 out of 720, maintained her lead throughout the match. Despite Sarita matching Oznur’s perfect scores in the third and fourth ends, Oznur’s early advantage and final score of 29 in the fifth end secured her victory.
Sheetal Devi, who draws her arrows with her toes, faced a tough challenge in her last-16 round match against Tokyo silver medalist Mariana Zuniga from Chile. Sheetal, who had previously set a world record with a score of 703, began the match strongly but faltered in the second end, where she shot a 7-point red ring. Despite winning the opening set and putting up a strong fight, Sheetal lost the match by a single point with a final score of 137-138.
In the pre-quarters, Sheetal had received a bye into the last-16 round after setting a world record of 703. She started with two Xs but struggled with a 7-point arrow in the second end, which allowed Zuniga to level the score. The competition was close throughout, but a final arrow from Zuniga secured her victory.
Earlier in the day, Sarita Kumari had defeated Italy’s Eleonora Sarti 141-135 in the pre-quarters, displaying strong performance throughout the match. Sarita had also won her first-round clash against Malaysia’s Nur Jannaton Abdul Jalil with a score of 138-124.
In the open class of archery, competitors shoot from a sitting position at a distance of 50 meters at an 80cm five-ring target, with scoring bands ranging from 10 to 6 points.