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Indian archery pair of Rakesh Kumar and Sheetal Devi clinched the bronze medal in the Mixed Team Compound event with a win over Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonnacina of Italy at the ongoing Paris Paralympics.
They defeated the Italian pair with a scoreline of 156-155 in the bronze medal match of the ongoing marquee event on Monday. With this win, they bagged a bronze medal for their country. Earlier in the day, Islamic Republic of Iran's Fatemeh Hemmati and Hadi Nori ended India's Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar's hopes of a gold medal by defeating them in the semi-final of the mixed team compound open in the ongoing mega event. The final four affairs went right down the wire, but it was Iran, who edged past India by a margin of 19.3mm. After the conclusion of End 1, the Indian duo led by one point, with the scoreline reading 39-38. Rakesh and Sheetal hit an inner ten once in the two of their shots. In End 2, the Indian duo continued to lead by a point after both pairs registered 37 points each. After the conclusion of End 3, Iran managed to level the scoreline after India accumulated just 37 points, while Iran struck two 10s and put 38 points on the board. With the scoreline reading 113-113, Iran and India once again matched each other's tally to force the semi-final clash into a shoot-off.All four archers hit the 10-point mark, it was Iran's arrow that was closest to the centre. India missed out on the opportunity to fight for the gold medal by 19.3mm. The Indian top seeds in the mixed team compound open event marched into the final four with a 154-143 win over Indonesia's Teodora Audi Ayudia Ferelly and Ken Swagumilang. Sheetal also suffered a heartbreak in the women's individual compound open archery event. The young Indian para-archer, who displayed a stunning performance in the qualification of women's Individual Compound archery event by breaking the previous world record of 698 by shooting 703 points out of a possible 720 for a second-place finish, lost to Chile's Zuniga Mariana by 137-138. Sheetal was one of India's biggest medal contenders, having secured three medals at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou last year, including two gold medals in individual and mixed team compound competition and a silver in doubles compound competition. (ANI)
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