Sheetal Devi won the gold medal in the women’s compound event as India concluded the World Archery Para Series 2026 Stage 3 in Ahmedabad with 15 medals – four gold, three silver and eight bronze – on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old world champion defeated Kazakhstan’s Aizada Seidan in a shoot-off after the gold medal contest finished level at 144-144.
Sheetal struck a 10 with her shoot-off arrow while Seidan managed a 9 to hand the Indian the title at the Sabarmati Riverfront.
It was Sheetal’s first individual gold medal at the World Archery Para Series.
The world No. 1 Indian para archer had entered the eliminations as the top seed after shooting 698 in qualification. The score was a season best and improved her own Asian record by one point.
Sheetal beat Slovakia’s Liliana Lacova 147-142 in the round of 16 and Great Britain’s Jessica Stretton 145-142 in the quarter-finals before overcoming compatriot Sarita 145-143 in the semi-finals.
Sarita also finished on the podium after edging the People’s Republic of China’s Wang Huiting 141-140 in the bronze medal match.
Sheetal had created a world record earlier in the competition alongside fellow Paris 2024 mixed team para archery bronze medallist Rakesh Kumar.
The Indian pair combined for 1400 points in the compound mixed team qualification, improving their previous world record of 1399 set at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games by one point.
Sheetal scored 698 while Rakesh contributed 702 to the record total.
For the compound mixed team elimination rounds, Toman Kumar replaced Rakesh and partnered Sheetal.
The Indian pair won the bronze medal after defeating Iraq 157-145 on Wednesday.
India had narrowly missed the gold medal match after losing a shoot-off against China in the semi-finals following a 156-156 tie.
Meanwhile, Bhawna and Harvinder Singh added another gold medal for India in the recurve mixed team competition.
The Indian pair blanked China’s Liang Qiurong and Xia Lei 6-0 in the final, winning the three sets 35-31, 36-33 and 34-32.
Bhawna also won the women’s individual recurve bronze medal after beating compatriot Rajshri Dhanraj Rathod 6-0.
Reigning compound men’s world champion Toman Kumar completed his individual campaign with bronze after defeating Iraq’s Abbas Kadhim 143-138.
Toman had lost 146-144 to eventual champion Ken Swagumilang of Indonesia in the semi-finals.
The final-day medals added to India’s success earlier in the competition.
Toman Kumar and Shyam Sunder Swami won the compound men’s doubles gold medal on Tuesday after beating Iraq 152-139.
Paris 2024 Paralympic champion Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi clinched the recurve men’s doubles title with a 6-2 victory against Slovakia.
Bhawna and Pooja finished with silver in the recurve women’s doubles, while Swati Chaudhary and Adil Mohamed Nazir Ansari were runners-up in the W1 mixed team event.
W1 is a para archery division for athletes with more severe physical impairments. Archers compete from wheelchairs and can use either recurve or compound bows under modified equipment regulations.
India also claimed bronze medals in both W1 doubles events. Adil Mohamed Nazir Ansari and Naveen Dalal finished third in the men’s competition, while Swati Chaudhary and Vasundhra Teotia took bronze in the women’s event.
Swati added another bronze medal in the individual W1 women’s competition.
Earlier, Tanvi Pravin Ingale won silver and Yugal Garg took bronze in the visually impaired competition.
The Ahmedabad competition, held from September 5 to 9, marked India’s first time hosting a World Archery Para Series event.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/world-archery-para-series-2026-ahmedabad-india-report-results
