J&K archer Sheetal Devi clinches gold at Khelo India Para Games 2025

Paralympian Sheetal Devi, 17, won the gold medal in the women’s compound event at the Khelo India Para Games 2025, on Sunday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.

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A 2024 Paris Paralympics bronze medalist and a gold medalist at the inaugural Khelo India Para Games, Sheetal scored 137 in the final to claim the top spot.

Payal Nag, India’s first quadruple amputee para archer from Bolangir, Odisha, secured the silver with a score of 129. In the semifinals, Sheetal had scored 140, while Payal scored 139 the previous day.

Payal, who lost all four of her limbs in an electrocution accident at the age of five, and Sheetal both train at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Archery Academy in Katra, Jammu and Kashmir.

Hailing from Loidhar in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheetal is the first armless female para archer. Born with a rare congenital condition called Phocomelia, she has defied the odds to achieve remarkable success in archery.

Reflecting on her time training with Payal, Sheetal shared, “In just one and a half years of taking up archery, Payal is shooting incredibly well, and I learn a lot from her. I don’t have arms, and she doesn’t have both arms and legs. When I first saw Payal shooting an arrow, I wondered how she did it. But then a special prosthetic device was made for her, which enabled her to shoot. That inspired me, and I’m confident that with all her hard work, Payal will bring India a medal.”