With three medals including their first-ever gold medal and six quota places for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, the Indian para-archers have reached new heights at the recently concluded 2023 World Archery Para Championships in Pilsen, Czech Republic.

India’s medal tally at Pilsen included one gold, one silver and one bronze with Sarita and Rakesh Kumar winning their first-ever gold medal after clinching the top spot on the podium in the compound mixed team open event.

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Sarita also won bronze in the compound women’s team event with Jyoti while armless archer Sheetal Devi, only 16, accounted for India’s only individual medal in Pilsen – a silver in women’s compound.

This was the country’s best-ever result at the Para archery World Championships with India’s previous-best tally being two silver medals in Dubai last year. India fielded a 13-member team at the Pilsen 2023 World Archery Para Championships.

Coach Kuldeep Kumar highlighted Para archers’ “hard work” and a “strict training regime” as reasons behind the terrific form of the team which they want to continue at the upcoming Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games in October and Paris 2024 Paralympics next year.

“The archers have been very focused and working hard over the last few years and it has paid them off and the nation with amazing results,” Kumar told the Paralympic Committee of India from Pilsen.

“The gold medal was a big morale booster for the entire team and the girls added up with more medals. This World Championship was just great for us,” he was quoted as saying by PCI in a release on Monday.

“We hope to continue this run until the Asian Para Games later this year. It is going to be the same team, and they are determined to improve the result this time in Hangzhou (In Indonesia 2018, India had a gold medal),” said Kumar, who has been coaching since 2007.

Having said that he also highlighted the continuous support of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Archery Association of India (AAI), Sports Ministry and PCI with national camps, foreign exposure, and equipment among others.

Kumar also mentioned the important role of the coaches in the success of the players. “It’s the coach’s teaching methods that also come into play – not just the shooting technique but motivating the players towards sports and how it can change the players’ life.”

Amazing run

Sarita and Rakesh Kumar started India’s amazing run at Pilsen clinching the first-ever gold medal in the World Archery Para Championships. The Indian duo beat Brazil’s Jane Gogel and Reinaldo Ferreira 152-146 in the final.

Sarita also collected a bronze medal in the compound women’s team event pairing with Jyoti. They overcame the Iranian pair of Farzaneh Asgari and Maryam Yavarpoor Shahrbabaki 147-142 in the bronze medal match.

In the women’s compound event, the armless archer Sheetal Devi, who shoots with her foot in the style of famous armless archer Matt Stutzman, went on a dream run in the competition settling for the silver after losing to Turkey’s Oznur Cure, the defending champion, by a 140-138 scoreline.

Inspiration for archers

“This was Sheetal’s second international event, and she has set an example with her performance here. She has become an inspiration not just for her fellow Para archers but for abled body archers as well. Her steely determination and strong focus are what single her out from many archers.”

The 16-year-old Sheetal, who started her archery training at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board’s Sports Complex, Katra, only 11 months ago, has silver at the European Para Archery Cup in Nove Mesto (also in the Czech Republic) in May. Besides, Sheetal has been competing against able-bodied under-18s and winning medals domestically since.

At Pilsen, she became the first female armless archer to win a silver medal at the Para World Championships.

Her fairytale run also gained the attention of last year’s champion Stutzman, the legendary Armless archer from the United States who is also a Paralympic and World medallist. Stutzman went on to praise the Indian teenager and gave some suggestions for her game.

Before the stupendous medal-winning show, Indian Para-archers set three world records with Sarita setting a new world record in the women’s individual compound with a score of 697.