By M S Nazki
The motto, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’ is the superstition of modern man. But for this girl it was not a superstition! She wanted to do it and she did it at the world stage!
-A small incident I will start this story with a youth/man! Yes in order to sustain his creed, contemporary girl/man pays the price in a remarkable lack of introspection. He is blind to the fact that, with all his rationality and efficiency, he is possessed by ‘powers’ that are beyond his control. His god and demons have not disappeared at all; they have merely got new names. They keep him on the run with restlessness, vague apprehensions, psychological complications, an insatiable need for pills, alcohol, tobacco, food—and, above all, a large array of neuroses.’!
-But this is a story of a woman’s power and what she is capable of doing! Sheetal Devi knows this fallacy to the hilt!
-She always wanted to be at the top of the world! I could have written this story a long back ut I waited and the wait was good enough!
-Sheetal Devi (born 10 January 2007) is an Indian Para-archer.Devi was born with a rare medical condition called phocomelia,which makes her the first and the only international para-archery champion without upper limbsShe received the Arjuna Award 2023 from the President of India on 9 January 2024.
-In the women’s compound bow at the 2022 Asian Para Games,Devi received two gold medals in mixed doubles and women’s individual after winning a silver medal in women’s double compound!
-She was born in Loidhar village, Kishtwar district in Jammu and Kashmir. In 2019, Sheetal attended a youth event in Kishtwar where she was noticed by the Indian Army’s Rashtriya Rifles unit resulting in the Army supporting her education and providing medical assistance.
-In the youth event organized by the Indian army, the army coaches Abhilasha Chaudhary and Kuldeep Wadhwan noticed her confidence and decided to train her. As she was born with Phocomelia, she had no arms. So firstly the coaches decided to help her with prosthetics. But the medics said that prosthetics were not possible in her case. Here, she said that she was fond of and has expertise in climbing trees using her legs. This was a very pleasant surprise for the coaches.
– Now coaches had one more challenge to face, they had never trained a person for archery who has no arms. But coaches did some research about whether it was possible to train her, and eventually they came to know about Matt Stutzman , who was armless and used his legs for archery. This made coaches very confident and within 11 months of training, Sheetal Devi participated in Asian Para Games and won two gold medals for India.
-The world of sports is no stranger to athletes overcoming odds to achieve big on the world stage. Yet, among all these odds-defying narratives, the story of the teenaged Indian para-archer Sheetal Devi stands out.
-Fast forward to 2023 and Sheetal Devi’s achievements in archery are already in the headlines after just one season. Sheetal Devi claimed a silver medal in the open women’s compound archery event at the World Archery Para Championships 2023 in the Czech Republic in July. She was the first female armless archer to win a medal at the Para World Championships. The medal also helped Sheetal obtain a quota for India for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
–Sheetal Devi’s stellar debut season continued at the Asian Para Games 2023 in October. She bagged gold medals in the individual compound and mixed team events apart from winning the silver medal in the women’s doubles competition.
-What makes Sheetal Devi’s achievements all the more astonishing is that she is the only active female international archer to shoot without arms.
As a kid, Sheetal possessed a strong will and enjoyed climbing trees as a pastime. The activity helped her build a strong upper body which proved to be a turning point later in her life. The Indian Army played a pivotal role in propelling Sheetal Devi’s career in para archery. It was at a youth event orchestrated by the Indian Army in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir in 2021 that Sheetal’s innate athleticism and confidence were discovered by army coaches. However, the initial attempts from the coaches to make Sheetal Devi a force in para archery hit a stumbling block. The coaches initially planned to help her with prosthetics but it did not work out.
Sheetal soon joined former archer and coach Kuldeep Vedwan’s academy. Despite competing among the abled archers at the national competitions, Sheetal Devi’s talent was for all to see. Using her legs and feet akin to para archery legend Stutzman, Sheetal Devi embraced the unconventional shooting technique and competed at the Para Archery National Championship in Haryana in March-April 2022. Vedwan said the tournament was crucial as it helped Sheetal Devi get formal recognition as an Indian para archer.
Now the latest is: ECI Name Para-archer and Arjuna Awardee Sheetal Devi as PwD National Icon
-The Arjuna Awardee and para-archer, Sheetal Devi has been named as the PwD national icon by the Election Commission of India.
-The Election Commission of India (ECI) in association with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) organised an Exhibition Cricket Match between the Indian Deaf Cricket Association (IDCA) Team and the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) team to foster voter education and inclusivity. The match was held on March 16, 2024, at Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi. On the occasion, Ms. Sheetal Devi, a distinguished Para-archer, and Arjuna Awardee, was announced as the National Icon in the PwD category.
The event was graced by Chief Election Commissioner Shri Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Shri Gyanesh Kumar and Shri Sukhbir Singh Sandhu who felicitated the winning team. Renowned former Indian Cricketer, Nikhil Chopra, was also invited as the special guest alongside officials from DDCA and IDCA.
For the event, the Commission launched a dedicated Voter’s Guide for PwDs and Senior Citizen Electors. The comprehensive booklet outlines essential provisions available to PwDs and senior citizens, including infrastructural, informative, and procedural details at polling stations, as well as the applicability and procedure for Postal Ballots, facilitating a smooth and pleasurable voting experience. Again it was the Indian Army who started it all.
