Sheetal Devi Equals World Record, Then Sets a Mixed Team World Record With Toman Kumar

Sheetal Devi equalled the women's compound world record and then helped set a new mixed team world record on Monday, on a ranking round day at the Asian Para Games that rewrote three record books at once.

The 19 year old Indian scored 704 points out of a possible 720 in the women's compound ranking round at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Okazaki, Japan. The score matched the world record held by Turkey's Oznur Cure Girdi, set at the Paris Paralympics in 2024. It also broke Devi's own Asian record of 698, set in Bangkok in March this year, by six points, and raised her own Asian Para Games record of 680, set in Hangzhou in 2023.

Devi scored 352 points in each half of the 72 arrow round, with 32 Xs and 25 tens, and finished first in the individual standings. Singapore's Nur Syahidah Alim was second with 683, ahead of China's Xueqing Xu on 680, IANS reported.

A second record with Toman Kumar

Devi's 704 then combined with Toman Kumar's 698 in the men's compound ranking round to give India 1,402 points in the mixed team ranking round, a new world record. The old mark of 1,400 was set by Devi and Rakesh Kumar at the World Para Archery Series in Ahmedabad earlier this year. The total also passed the Asian Para Games record of 1,382, set by China at Hangzhou in 2023, by 20 points.

Kumar finished third in the men's individual standings with his 698, a personal best. China's Yicheng Zhang topped that round with 708, a new Asian record, ahead of Xinliang Ai on 704. Kumar is the men's compound individual world champion and the world number one in his class, IANS reported.

The two ranking scores make Devi and Kumar the top seeds for the mixed team event, and among the favourites for gold when the medal rounds are shot. Ranking rounds set seedings only. No medals were decided on Monday.

India depth behind the records

Devi was not India's only scorer near the top. Payal Nag shot 675 to finish joint fifth in the women's round. Devi and Nag also topped the women's compound doubles ranking with a combined 1,379 points, an Asian record, according to the Games results listed by the Asian Paralympic Committee.

Devi, from Jammu and Kashmir, was born with phocomelia and shoots the bow with her feet. She won the women's compound individual gold at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games in 2023 and a mixed team bronze at the Paris Paralympics in 2024, and she is a world champion. Monday's scores add a joint world record and a share of a new team world record to that list, before the knockout rounds have begun.

ANI and IANS wires reported the same scores from Okazaki on Monday. The elimination rounds follow this week at the Aichi Nagoya Games, which run from October 18 to 24.