Feet Of Destiny

Ask Sheetal Devi what reminds her most of home, and she doesn’t talk of a grand memory. She simply says: Rice. It was what she grew up eating each day in Loidhar, her small mountain village in Jammu & Kashmir. Rice meant routine, comfort, and childhood—a reminder of where she started long before she became a Paralympic medallist and now a world champion.

- Siddhant Konduskar

Sheetal Devi (18)

Para archer

Born with phocomelia—a congenital condition that left her without arms—Devi grew up far from the world of sports. She learnt to eat, write, climb trees and move through the world with her feet. “Back then, I didn’t think it was anything special,” she says. “But, later, I realised those things helped build balance, strength, independence which became the foundation of the athlete I am today.”

Sport was never her dream. In fact, she once wanted to be a teacher. All of that changed in 2021, during a medical visit to Bengaluru that failed to give her the result she had desired. “My own plan failed,” she says, “but God’s plan didn’t. He kept connecting me to the right people.”