India’s young Archery sensation Sheetal Devi bagged the Best Youth Athlete of the Year award. The 16-year-old armless archer was felicitated at the Asian Paralympic Committee’s award ceremony on Sunday. The teenager duly received the award after an outstanding year that saw her win two gold medals at the recently concluded Para Asian Games.
According to World Archery, Sheetal Devi is the World’s first armless archer. In her maiden Asian Para Games this year, she won the gold medals in women’s individual and compound mixed team event. With that, she became the first-ever Indian woman to win two gold medals in the same edition of Asian Para Games 2023.
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The World’s first armless female archer shoots with her leg and she exhibited unparalleled skills, defying all odds. Hailing from Jammu and Kashmir’s Lohi Dhar Village, she was born with Phocomelia. It is a rare congenital disorder characterized by the underdevelopment or absence of limbs, particularly the arms or legs.
She took up the sport on the advice of coach Kuldeep Kumar and trains at his Mata Vaishnoodevi Archery Academy. Within her first 12 months in Archery, she won national medals and qualified for the Para Asian Games. The teenager is now a big medal hope for India in the upcoming 2024 Paralympics.
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