Asian Para Games: Sheetal Equals Compound Archery World Record; Swati Breaks Record on Debut

India’s para-archers opened their Asian Para Games campaign in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on Monday with a world-record equalling score from Sheetal Devi and a Games record from debutant Swati Chaudhari.

SHEETAL EQUALS THE WORLD RECORD

Sheetal Devi scored 704 out of a possible 720 in the women’s compound ranking round at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square, equalling the world record.

Turkey’s Oznur Cure is the other archer who jointly holds it. Sheetal scored 352 in each half of the qualification round, with 32 Xs and 25 tens, and finished first.

The score beat her own Asian record of 698, set in Bangkok in March this year, by six points. It also set a new Games record, surpassing her previous mark of 680 from the 2023 Hangzhou edition.

PAYAL NAG AND THE DOUBLES TEAM

Fellow Indian Payal Nag scored 675 to finish joint fifth in the qualification standings, with 12 Xs and 20 tens. She shot 334 in the first half and improved to 341 in the second. Together, Sheetal’s 704 and Payal’s 675 gave the pair a combined 1,379, topping the para compound women’s doubles ranking round.

SWATI CHAUDHARI’S DEBUT RECORD

Making her Asian Para Games debut, Swati Chaudhari scored 648 in the women’s ranking round, a new Games record. She recorded nine Xs and 14 tens, scoring 332 in the first half and 316 in the second. The total surpassed the previous record of 627 set by China’s Minyi Chen at the 2023 Hangzhou Games.

MEN’S COMPOUND

In the men’s compound ranking round, Harvinder Singh finished fifth with 631 points, with eight Xs and 13 tens. He shot 310 in the first half and improved to 321 in the second. Vijay Sundi was seventh with 630, with six Xs and 13 tens, scoring 318 in the first half and 312 in the second.

With inputs from ANI