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Paris Paralympics 2024: Sheetal Devi And Rakesh Kumar to claim the bronze medal

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The Indian duo of Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar staged a remarkable comeback after the heartbreak in the semifinals to claim the bronze medal with a 156-155 win over Italy's Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonacina in mixed team compound archery competition at Paralympics here on Monday.

It is only the second time that India has won a medal in Paralympics in archery. Harvinder Singh bagged an individual bronze at the Tokyo edition of the Games three years ago.

Sheetal also became the first Indian woman to win an archery medal at the quadrennial showpiece as coach Kuldeep Vedhwan rejoiced at the stands. Sheetal, 17, was born in 2007 with phocomelia, a rare congenital disorder leading to underdeveloped limbs. The condition resulted in her arms not fully forming.

The 39-year-old Rakesh suffered a spinal cord injury and after recovering in 2009 he realised he would be wheelchair-bound for life, which plunged him into depression and even forced him to contemplate taking his own life.

India won after the 17-year-old Sheetal's shot in the final end was upgraded from 9 to 10 following a revision. Something similar had happened in the semifinal too, against Iran earlier in the evening, but the Indians were at the receiving end on that occasion 

The Indians shot 10, 9, 10 10 in the final end to reach 155. The Italian pair responded with 9, 9, 10, 10 to draw level at 155-155. It was at that point that the judge decided to take a closer look at Sheetal's shot and concluded that it was a 10, leading to India's victory.

Before that, with just four arrows left, the Indians were trailing by a point with Sarti displaying awesome form even as her partner Bonacina struggled a bit. But the Indian pair held on to emerge winners in the end.

It was a great comeback by the Indians after they went down in shoot-off following a dramatic semifinal clash against Iran's Fatemeh Hemmati and Hadi Nori. Both Rakesh and Sheetal failed to win medal in the individual event at the Games this year.


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