Sheetal Devi and Swati Chaudhary reach Asian Para Games archery finals

Sheetal Devi and Swati Chaudhary reached the women’s archery finals at the Asian Para Games on Tuesday, 20 October, assuring India of at least two medals. Devi won her compound semifinal against Japan’s Shinohara Aya, while Chaudhary beat South Korea’s Lee Eunhee in the W1 semifinal. Each Indian archer is now guaranteed at least silver, with gold still to be decided.

Devi’s title defence and Chaudhary’s debut final

Devi, the defending champion, defeated Shinohara 145–137. The 19-year-old is scheduled to face Singapore’s Alim Nur Syahidah in the gold-medal match on 22 October. She had equalled the world record and set a new Asian record during qualification, according to the Times of India and PTI’s report published by Outlook India.

Chaudhary, competing at her first Asian Para Games, won her W1 semifinal 6–2 against Lee. She will face China’s Mengkan in the final. The W1 classification covers athletes with significant impairment in functional strength or range of motion, or limb loss across all four limbs, according to PTI’s report published by Outlook India.

India’s mixed teams advance in para archery

India also reached the compound and recurve mixed team semifinals. Devi and Toman Kumar defeated Japan 154–147 in the compound mixed team quarterfinal, while Paralympic gold medallist Harvinder Singh and Bhawna beat Thailand 6–0 in the recurve mixed team event, the Times of India and PTI reported.

The individual results were mixed for India’s other archers. The Times of India reported that Kumar lost his men’s compound semifinal 144–149 to China’s Ai Xinliang and will compete for bronze. Harvinder lost 5–6 to China’s Yun Duo in a men’s recurve quarterfinal shoot-off, while Bhawna fell 2–6 to Mongolia’s Selengee Demberel in the women’s recurve last eight.