Paralympic Games: Sheetal Devi, from being born without arms to winning a medal in archery

Los Paris 2024 Paralympic Games They witnessed an emotional exhibition in the discipline of archery. The protagonist of this story is called Sheetal Devia 17-year-old archer representing India who went viral for an excellent 10-point shot using her feet and mouth in the execution.

This young parathlete was born on January 10 in Loidhar, Kishtwar, a territory located in northern India between Jammu and Kashmir. However, Devi He came into the world without arms due to a congenital disease called phocomelia. which implies malformations in the extremities.

For many it was difficult to link her to the world of sports due to her condition, but everything changed in 2019, when the Rashtriya Rifles of the Indian Army They bumped into her at a youth event in Kishtwar. Moved by his life story, they decided to provide him with education, medical assistance and training.

Sheetal Devi amazed everyone at the Paris 2024 Paralympics (IMAGO)

Initially the intention was to place a prosthesis, although his strange case made it made it impossible. The aforementioned unit had never trained a person without arms, but another key person appeared in this story, Matt Stutzman who used his legs in archery.

With Stutzman as inspiration, the training of Sheetal Devi and 11 months later he was already participating in the 2022 Asian Para Games. The result? Two gold medals (mixed doubles and singles) and one silver (women’s compound).

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How did Sheetal Devi do at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games?

In the women’s compound, Sheetal Devi was eliminated in the quarterfinals, but not before going viral for an excellent 10-point shot that astonished the world and traveled through all the portals.

However, there was a happy ending for her in mixed teams, where she obtained the bronze medal with Rakesh Kumar after beating Italy 156 to 155.