Sheetal Devi crowned world champion, wins historic gold at World Archery Para Championships 2025

She also bagged silver and Bronze at the world championships.

India’s Sheetal Devi scripted history at the ongoing World Archery Para Championships 2025 by winning gold in women’s compound individual alongside a silver and bronze in women’s doubles and mixed team events respectively.

The 18-year-old, only armless archer in the competition, clinched her maiden world title in the women’s compound open final, beating the reigning Paralympic and world champion Oznur Cure of Turkey, with 146-143 win.

Sheetal Devi is World Champion! 👑The 18 y/o defeats reigning Paralympics & World Champion Oznur Cure of Turkey🇹🇷 146-143 to clinch the Compound Women's Gold at the Para Archery World Championships.Sheetal becomes India's first-ever Individual World Champion. 🇮🇳🥇 pic.twitter.com/3wDHTAYYch

— Khel Now (@KhelNow) September 27, 2025

Sheetal Devi kicked off the final with a 29-all tie in the first end, then surged ahead 59-56 after a superb 30 in the second end.

She was steady at 88-85 and 116-114 despite a slip, and then the Indian wonder archer sealed the gold with a perfect 30 in the last round, defeating Girdi 146-143 to seal India’s first-ever world title in the event.

With this, the Indian para-archer also avenged her loss at the 2023 Pilsen World Championships where Oznur had narrowly defeated Devi.

Earlier in the day, Sheetal teamed up with Sarita in the women’s compound open team event to win a silver medal for India.

The duo had already created history earlier by becoming the first Indian pair to reach the final of the women’s compound team event.

In the title clash, they went head-to-head with a strong Turkish team of Oznur Cure and Bursa Fatma Un.

The final turned out to be a thriller. India made a brilliant start, taking a slender 38-37 lead in the opening end, thanks to three perfect 10s from their first four arrows.

Turkey, however, fought back strongly in the second end to level the score at 76-76. A tense third end saw the momentum shift, with the Turkish duo edging ahead 113-112.

Sheetal Devi & Sarita clinch Silver in the Compound Women’s Team at the #WorldArcheryParaChampionships 2025 in Gwangju, South Korea 🇰🇷🏹A stellar performance that makes the nation proud! 🇮🇳✨#ArcheryIndia #TeamIndia #NTPC pic.twitter.com/qpH1jUFZyK

— ARCHERY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA (@india_archery) September 27, 2025

In the deciding end, Turkey shot a near-perfect 39, while the Indian pair managed 36 including an unlucky arrow in the 7-ring handing Turkey a 152-148 win.

Despite the heartbreak in the final, Sheetal and Sarita’s journey to silver was nothing short of inspiring. They showed flashed of brilliance in a nail-biting quarter-final to beat China 154-153, and then stunned top seeds Great Britain 152-150 in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Sheetal wasn’t done yet. Partnering with Toman Kumar, she picked up a bronze medal in the compound mixed team open event, defeating Great Britain’s Nathan MacQueen and Jodie Grinham to round off her incredible day.

Speaking of Toman, he himself enjoyed a memorable campaign so far, winning gold in the compound men’s open individual event after defeating fellow Indian Rakesh Kumar in an all-India final.

Rakesh, meanwhile, walked away with two medals, the individual silver and a bronze in the compound men’s open team event alongside Shyam Sunder Swami.

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