Sheetal Devi
– Photo: Social Media
Expansion
Sheetal Devi of remote village Loi Dhar of Kishtwar (Jammu and Kashmir) district has no hands since birth. Despite this, disability did not become a curse for this 16-year-old daughter. A year and a half ago, an army officer told Kuldeep Vedwan, coach of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Archery Academy, Katra, about Sheetal. It was from here that Sheetal’s life turned upside down. A special bow was prepared for him, which is not run with hands but with legs and chest. Within six months, Sheetal mastered it and became the world’s first armless woman archer to reach the finals of the World Para Archery being played in Pilsen (Czech Republic).
Became the world’s first armless female archer
Sheetal says that she never thought that she would become an archer. It still seems like a dream to them. When Sheetal started archery a year and a half ago, she became the world’s first female archer without hands, but now there are a total of six archers without hands in the whole world. Abhilasha, coach at the Shrine Board Academy in Pilsen with Sheetal, says that getting her started in archery was a challenging task. When Sheetal came here, she saw other para archers practicing archery in the academy, so she agreed to take up this sport. A special bow was prepared for him at the academy. Within six months she became an accomplished archer. Even she started playing with common archers other than para.
Received ticket for Paris Paralympics
According to Abhilasha, she played her first international para tournament in Czech Republic two months ago, in which she won two silver and bronze, but her performance in the qualifying world championship for Paris Paralympics has been impressive. She shot 689 out of 720 on Wednesday to make it to the final of compound archery, where she will take on world record holder Sarita of her own country with a score of 697 on Saturday. Both the archers have also secured tickets for the Paris Paralympics. If she wins the final, she will become the first female archer without hands in the world to win the title. Sheetal is from a very poor family. His father is a farmer and mother takes care of goats.
First shown video of Archer Matt without hands
According to Abhilasha, it was not easy to teach archery to Sheetal. It was difficult to tell them how to shoot arrows. For this, Kuldeep and he started showing Sheetal the video of Matt Stutzman of America, the world’s first armless archer. This helped a lot. Matt has also come here to play. He had come to meet Sheetal and also saw Sheetal’s bow. He has suggested some changes in it. Paralympic medalist Matt shot 685 here, while Sheetal shot 689.
Admitted to the hospital before the final
Sheetal was also supposed to compete in the team event on Friday, but her health deteriorated on Thursday. According to Abhilasha, he had to be admitted to the hospital here. She has come from the hospital at two o’clock in the night. Because of this, he was released from today’s match. Now preparations are on to feed them in the final on Saturday.