Two runner-up finishes had left Sheetal Devi waiting for her breakthrough. On home soil, with the pressure of expectation and a fiercely contested final hanging in the balance, the Indian para archer finally found the moment she had been chasing.
World No. 1 and reigning world champion Sheetal Devi clinched her first individual gold medal in the Hyundai World Archery Para Series, edging Kazakhstan’s Aizada Seidan in a dramatic shoot-off at the Sabarmati Riverfront on Wednesday. The victory capped India’s campaign at the third leg of the inaugural Para Series with a sizeable medal haul and gave Devi an important confidence boost less than two months before the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games.
The 19-year-old entered the Ahmedabad final as the top seed after producing a season-best 698 in qualification, a score that also improved her own Asian record by one point. She finished 10 points clear of the field and had already established herself as the archer to beat before the elimination rounds began. Yet the final against Seidan was anything but straightforward.
The Kazakh matched Devi from the opening arrows, with both archers beginning with perfect 30s. Seidan then produced two Xs with her final two regulation arrows, forcing the contest into a tie-break. With the score level at 144-144, the title came down to a single arrow.
She shot an X, the innermost section of the 10-ring, while Seidan managed a nine. That was enough to settle the contest and send the home crowd into celebration. For Devi, the result was particularly significant after she had finished runner-up at the first two stages of the new circuit. At the inaugural Bangkok event, she topped qualification but ultimately finished second to compatriot Payal Nag. She again reached the latter stages in Nove Mesto before arriving in Ahmedabad still searching for her first individual Series crown. This time, there was no denying her.
Devi’s victory was also India’s only individual gold at the Ahmedabad tournament. The hosts, however, enjoyed considerable success across the competition, finishing with 15 medals: four gold, three silver and eight bronze. Among the other Indian medal winners were Sarita, who secured bronze in the women’s compound individual event, while Toman Kumar took bronze in the men’s compound individual competition. Bhawna Choudhary added bronze in women’s recurve and Swati Chaudhary claimed bronze in the W1 women’s individual event.
India’s success extended into the team competitions as well. Paris 2024 Paralympic champion Harvinder Singh and Bhawna Choudhary secured their second consecutive Para Series title in the recurve mixed team event, defeating China 6-0 in the final. Harvinder had earlier partnered in the men’s doubles gold and continued to underline his status as one of India’s leading para archers.
The Ahmedabad event itself represented an important milestone for Indian para archery. The third stage of the newly launched Hyundai World Archery Para Series was the country’s first international hosting of a para archery world ranking event. A total of 109 archers from 19 countries competed across recurve, compound, W1 and visually impaired categories.
The timing could hardly be more significant. With the Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya less than two months away, Ahmedabad provided India’s leading para archers with high-level competition on home soil. For Devi, the tournament offered something more valuable than another medal: proof that she can close out the tightest contests when the pressure is at its highest. Her qualification performance established her dominance. Her final demonstrated her composure. And with an Asian title to defend later this year, that combination could prove crucial.
Sheetal Devi’s Ahmedabad triumph is more than a long-awaited gold medal. It is a statement of readiness. The teenager had already established herself as a world champion and one of the leading names in para archery. What had been missing from her 2026 Para Series campaign was the ability to convert strong performances into an individual title. She has now done that in the most dramatic fashion possible.
The shoot-off against Seidan also showed why Devi’s progress matters beyond the medal table. She did not simply dominate from start to finish. She was pushed into a deciding arrow and responded with the kind of precision expected from a world champion. India’s 15-medal haul further underlines the depth developing in the country’s para archery programme. But Devi remains the headline act, and her timing could not be better.
With the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games approaching, the Ahmedabad gold gives India’s world No. 1 exactly what she needed: momentum, belief and another reminder that when the contest comes down to one arrow, she can still find the centre of the target.
