Paralympics 2024, Archery Highlights: Sheetal Devi, Rakesh Kumar beat Italy to win compound mixed team bronze

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Sheetal cannot stop smiling. It must be such a relief. Her coach, Kuldeep Vedhwan is screaming from the stands. What a moment for the 17-year-old. This makes it two armless archers who have won medals in the Paris Paralympics. 

India: 39 (Rakesh 10, 10; Sheetal 9*, 10) 

Italy: 18 (Bonacina 9, 10; Sarti 9, 10)

As it stands, scores level 155-155. Will Sheetal’s first shot be upgraded?

YES IT IS.

India: 39 (Rakesh 10, 10; Sheetal 10, 10) 

Italy: 18 (Bonacina 9, 10; Sarti 9, 10)

BRONZE FOR SHEETAL AND RAKESH

India: 38 (Rakesh 10 9; Sheetal 9, X)

Italy: 39 (Bonacina 10, 9; Sarti 10, 10)

India: 40 (Rakesh X, 10; Sheetal 10, 10) 

Italy: 38 (Bonacina 9,9; Sarti 10, X)

India: 38 (Rakesh 10, 9 ; Sheetal 10,9 )

Italy: 40 (Bonacina 10, 10; Sarti 10, 10)

Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar take on Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonacina. This pair lost to Great Britain who will take on Iran in the final. One particular shot of nine from the Iranian pair has Indian fans up in arms about whether that 9* score deserved to be upgraded to 10. But no point crying over spilt milk. 

India’s Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar will face Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonacina of Italy. The latter lost to the Great Britain pair of Jodie Grinham and Nathan Macqueen 149-156 in the other semifinal.

Rakesh and Sheetal will play for bronze after losing the semifinals in a shoot-off against Iran’s Fatemeh and Hadi. The Iranian duo hit the target 1.1mm away from the centre, 18.2mm less than that of the Indians, leading the former to enter the final.

India: Rakesh-10; Sheetal-X

Iran: Fatemeh-X; Hadi- 10

India- 39 (Rakesh-X,X ; Sheetal-9,X)

Iran- 39 (Fatemeh-10,X ; Hadi-10,9 )

India- 39 (Rakesh-10,9 ; Sheetal-9,9)

Iran- 38 (Fatemeh-9,10 ; Hadi-10,9 )

Iran- 37 (Fatemeh-9,10; Hadi-9,9 )

India- 37 (Rakesh-10,10; Sheetal-X, 7)

India ties after two ends, but India still leads by a point

India- 39 (Rakesh-10, X; Sheetal- 9, X)

Iran- 38 (Fatemeh- 10,9; Hadi- 9,10)

Each archer will be given a chance to shoot twice during an end. There are four ends in total. The archer with an inner 10 will be denoted with a X.

The semifinal will take place at 9:40PM IST where Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar will face Islamic Republic of Iran’s Fatemeh Hemmati and Hadi Nori.

Each archer will be given a chance to shoot twice during an end. There are four ends.

Top seeds Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar will face Indonesia’s Teodora Audi Ayudia Ferelly and Ken Swagumilang in the mixed team compound open quarterfinals at 8:40PM IST.

The Indonesians beat Iraq 150-149 in the round of 16.

Sheetal and Rakesh got a bye in the round of 16 to directly enter the quarterfinal.

The mixed compound open archery event at the Paris 2024 Paralympics will take place on Monday at 8:40PM IST. 

The events of Paris Paralympics 2024 will be available for streaming on the Paralympic Games Youtube channel. Select events will also be available to stream on the Jio Cinema app and Doordarshan Sports TV Channel.