Indian players are performing very well in Paris Paralympics 2024. The mixed team of Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar has won the bronze medal in archery. The Indian mixed team scored 156. At the same time, the Italian team scored 155.
The Indian pair made a strong comeback after falling behind
In the bronze medal match, the Indian pair of Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar was at one point trailing. But the Indian pair made a strong comeback and won the medal. In the end, Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar scored 10-10. With this, they managed to take a lead of one point over the Italian team in the final score.
Lost by a close margin in the semi-finals
Indian archer pair Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar lost to Iran’s Fatima Hemati and Hadi Nori in a shoot-off in the semi-finals of the archery event. The Indian pair had come close to making it to the finals but had to face defeat after the Iranian team’s brilliant comeback and revision of the score by a judge. The match went into a shoot-off after the score was tied at 152-152. Both the teams scored perfectly in the shoot-off but Fatima’s arrow hit the middle and the Iranian team made it to the finals.
The Indian pair had performed brilliantly till the semi-finals. Sheetal Devi was born in 2007 with a rare congenital disorder called phocomelia due to which her limbs remain underdeveloped. Due to this disease, her hands could not develop fully. 39-year-old Rakesh had a spinal cord injury and after recovering from it in 2009, he realized that now he would have to remain in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, due to which he went into depression and even thought of committing suicide. But now both of them did not lose courage and won the bronze medal.