Sheetal 1st para archer to make able-bodied India team

Repetition may be unglamorous, but it is at the heart of a precision sport like archery.

- Shahid Judge

Load, aim, shoot, repeat. Archer Sheetal Devi has also added a staple celebration for every new milestone she achieves. “She will smile, be emotional, and she will say ‘humne kar diya. I've done it.’ That's the same thing she says every time she wins” said her coach Gaurav Sharma.

It isa process that goes on like clockwork. And on Thursday, she celebrated the same way once again. Only this time, there was a bit more emotion. After all, the 18-year-old — who in September became the first armless woman to win gold at the World Para Archery Championships — had become the first para-athlete from the country to be selected for an able-bodied Indian team in an international archery competition.

She finished third in the women’s individual compound archery trials to secure a spot for the continental event. “We were shocked, we were happy, we were emotional,” said Sharma after she made the cut in the national trials in Sonipat for the Junior Asia Cup Stage 3, which will be held in Saudi Arabia next month.