Nagoya: Sheetal Devi and Payal Nag win silver in Para Compound women’s doubles after losing the compound women’s doubles final at the Asian Para Games here on Wednesday.
The Indian duo put up a spirited fight in the final but went down to China’s Xu Xueqing and Zhao Jing, with the score reading 141–150.
Defending champion in compound individual Sheetal made a remarkable start to her Asian Para Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 campaign on Monday, equalling the world record in the compound women’s qualification. She then teamed up with quadruple-amputee archer Payal in the compound women’s doubles qualification.
Their combined score of 1379 set new Asian and Games records, surpassing the previous Asian mark of 1378. Payal contributed 675 points, helping the Indian pair top the women’s doubles ranking.
Sheetal also teamed up with Toman Kumar to set a new world record in the mixed team round as records tumbled in Okazaki. The 18-year-old scored 704 points out of a possible 720, matching the world record held by Turkiye’s Oznur Cure Girdi.
Sheetal also improved her own Asian record of 698, set in Bangkok in March, by six points and raised the Asian Para Games record from 680 to 704. The reigning world champions and world number ones, Sheetal and Kumar, then combined for 1402 points in the mixed team qualification, breaking the previous world record of 1400, also set by India.
Payal, 18, a para-archer from Balangir, Odisha, lost all four limbs in a high-voltage electrocution accident at a young age. Despite this, she learned to carry out daily activities using her mouth and later took up archery, inspired by Sheetal Devi.
Trained by her coach, she competes in compound archery using a specialised mouth-operated mechanism and customised equipment. She is among the first athletes in the world with quadruple limb loss to compete successfully at the international level.
She rose to prominence in 2025 with podium finishes at the Indian Para Archery Championships and a silver medal at the 2nd Khelo India Games 2025. She made her international debut at the 2025 Asian Youth Para Games in Dubai, marking a key milestone in her career.
(IANS)
