Written by Nitin SharmaSeptember 27, 2025 11:55 PM IST 6 min readTen months ago, Sheetal Devi's move to Patiala coincided with World Archery making some rule changes. (Photo Credit: World Archery)Almost ten months ago, when Sheetal Devi decided to shift base from Katra to Patiala to train under coach Gaurav Sharma, it meant that the 18-year-old would be further away from her family. The Paris Paralympics bronze medallist in the compound mixed team had visited her home in Loidhar village only once from late 2021 to 2024. Devi’s parents Mann Singh and Shakti Devi, and brother Ajay Kumar, understood that the archer would visit home less frequently. On Saturday afternoon, as Devi became the World Champion in Gwangju, winning women’s individual open gold with a 146-143 win against Oznur Cure Girdi of Turkey at the World Para Archery Championships, becoming only the second armless archer in the world to win the title, after USA’s Matt Stutzman in 2022.Singh and Kumar immediately knew Devi would call them to tell them where to place her latest medal in the new living room. “Sheetal has got the newly built house, and the SUV she has got is one of the big cars in the village. Yet, what she treasures the most is the medals she wins for India,” said her father Singh while speaking with The Indian Express from Loidhar village in Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir. “Since she started archery, she has rarely visited home. When she decided to shift to Patiala from Katra, we knew she was doing it for her own good. We have just completed the new house and are getting the new cabinets made to display her medals. Aaj toh Sheetal ne duniya jeet li toh woh wala medal sabse upar display hoga (Today, Sheetal has won the world and this medal will be displayed above all).”ALSO READ | Sheetal Devi: With three medals at Asian Para Games, 16-year-old armless archer from J&K is making wavesTen months ago, Devi’s move to Patiala coincided with World Archery making some rule changes. Earlier, archers like Devi – who was born with Phocomelia, a rare congenital disorder that causes underdeveloped limbs – were allowed to shoot with the help of the heel of the foot touching the bow, but the new rules stated that only the toe and the front part of the foot can touch the bow. While Devi would compete in the para nationals in Jaipur, where she lost to Payal Nag in the final, national coach Gaurav Sharma worked on getting the technique right. “We had to change her grip position and the lining of the bow; it was just like making her start the basics once again,” Gaurav told The Indian Express.This year, Devi’s first international competition was the European Para Archery Cup in Italy, where she lost in the first round, and her results had been up and down since. Later in Nove Mesto, Devi scored a first-round win over 2024 Paris Paralympics mixed team champion and individual bronze medallist and 2016 Rio Paralympics mixed team compound silver medallist Jodie Grinham of Great Britain. That was followed by a loss in the semi-finals against Rio 2016 winner Jessica Stretton of England. “Of course, her morale was a bit down as individual titles were not coming before August this year, but then she always has it in her to fight back. The Nove Mesto event was where the new technique was used, and it showed in the results with wins over top archers. It added to her desire to repeat the performance in Gwangju and win the world title,” added Sharma.In Gwangju, Devi finished second in qualification in the individual compound event, then scored wins over Joma Akter of Bangladesh, Busra Fatma of Turkey and Zhang Lu of China in the eliminations before winning the semi-final against Grinham 145-140. Earlier in the day, Devi paired up with Sarita to win silver in the women’s open team event, after a defeat in the final against the pair of Girdi and Fatma. In the mixed team event, Devi paired up with Toman Kumar to defeat the British duo of Grinham and Nathan Macqueen to win a bronze. “The weather was a bit fluctuating in the qualification as well as the knockout rounds, but Sheetal showed that she can handle such conditions with maturity, as she is already an experienced archer in terms of competing at international events,” said national coach Abhilash Chaudhary. “In the last 7-8 months, she trained, keeping the basics in mind and it helped her to regain the earlier form. Her shoulder movements are back to the way they were in earlier days. This title also came after competing in one final as well as one bronze match, and it speaks of her mental strength.”At the 2023 World Para Archery Championships in Pilsen, Girdi had won 140-138 against Devi in the final. Saturday offered Devi the rematch against the Paralympic gold medallist. The first End saw both archers shooting a score of 29 with a nine and two 10s each. Devi held her nerves in the second End, shooting three 10s while Girdi struggled a bit with a ten, nine and eight, handing a three-point lead to Devi. Both shot 29 each in the third End, and the fourth set saw Devi hitting nine twice and a ten as Girdi reduced the deficit to two points. With the win in her sights, the Indian archer struggled a bit with the release of her penultimate arrow before recovering to shoot a near-perfect arrow. She finished the match with three 10s, the last one bang in the middle.”I had a dream that I would become a world champion. It made me want to work. I worked and worked, and today I’ve got such a good result. The pressure wasn’t great. I controlled myself and shot very calmly. My heartbeat wasn’t so fast, so there was less pressure. It felt amazing just to be in the finals again,” Devi later told World Archery.Story continues below this adBack home in Loidhar, father Mann Singh has one desire. “We want her to spend some more days with us now after becoming the world champion. Yes it’s emotional for us when she leaves, but then she loves making India proud and when we see her with the Indian flag, it makes us forget all the moments without her.”Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... 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