Courtesy: X
On Monday, September 2, Indian pairing of Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar won a bronze medal in the mixed team compound archery event at the Paris Paralympics 2024 after defeating Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonacina. In a tense bronze medal match at the Les Invalides, the Indians managed to take home the glory with a scoreline of 156-155.
After the first four attempts in the mixed team compound archery bronze medal match, Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonacina had a 40-38 lead over the Indians, finding the bullseye on four consecutive occasions. In the next four attempts, Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar, 39, managed to turn the tables with four consecutive bullseyes, to level the score at 78-78.
The third set of four attempts saw the Italians take a slender lead by a point, with the scoreline reading 117-116, putting the pressure firmly on the Indians. In the next two attempts, Kumar and Devi got back into the lead at 136-135 before stretching it to 146-145.
The 16th and the final attempt of the mixed team compound archery bronze medal match was taken by 17-year-old Sheetal Devi of India. It was initially given as nine before the judges took a closer look to upgrade it to 10, which meant that the Indian pair secured the bronze medal despite the 10-pointer from the Italians.
