The story so far
Last week we reported that Sheetal Devi had topped the women's compound qualification round at the Ahmedabad Para Series with 698 out of 720, taking the top seed at India's first home-hosted international para-archery event. She is the armless archer from Jammu and Kashmir who shoots with her feet — world number one, reigning world champion, a Paris 2024 mixed-team bronze medallist and the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games gold medallist.
Qualification, though, only sets the bracket. The medals are decided in head-to-head matches, and that is where two earlier Series stops this season had left her as runner-up.
What's new
On 9 September she won the final — and it took everything she had.
Against Aizada Seidan of Kazakhstan, Devi opened on a perfect 30. So did Seidan. The two stayed locked together through the match: 29-29 in the second end, then Seidan edging the third 28-27, then 29-29 again. Going into the last three arrows Devi was behind, and Seidan closed by putting two arrows in the X-ring.
It finished 144-144. A tie at that level goes to a single-arrow shoot-off.
Devi shot a 10. Seidan shot a 9.
It is her first individual gold on the World Archery Para Series, and she won it on home soil after two second-place finishes earlier in the season.
The rest of India's final day
Devi also took bronze in the compound mixed team alongside Toman Kumar — the event we flagged last week as her next assignment, where the pair had gone in as top seeds.
Elsewhere on the closing day, Harvinder Singh and Bhawna won gold in the para recurve mixed team, while Bhawna, Sarita and Toman Kumar each took individual bronze. India finished the day with two golds and four bronzes.
What it means, and what's next
The timing is the point. Devi travels next to the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games in Nagoya, Japan, from 18 to 24 October — where she is the defending champion from Hangzhou, and part of an 11-strong Indian archery squad.
Winning a close individual final six weeks out, in front of a home crowd, against an opponent who forced a shoot-off, is a different kind of preparation from topping a qualification round. For young athletes across the Jammu region watching one of the UT's most recognisable sportspeople, the more useful detail is not the 698 or the gold medal. It is that she was behind after three ends, and shot a 10 when it counted.
Sources: World Archery — Sheetal Devi wins dramatic shoot-off for first individual Series gold in Ahmedabad; Daily Excelsior — Sheetal Devi wins gold as India take two gold, four bronze on final day.
