India's armless archer Sheetal Devi finished second in the women's individual compound open ranking round in a stunning performance to immediately reach a round of 16 for the Paralympics in Paris on Thursday. The 17-year-old Devi from Jammu and Kashmir, who shoots with her legs because she was born without arms, scored a total of 703 points out of a possible 720 to finish second behind Oznur Girdi Cure of Turkey, who set a ranking round world record of 704 points. Devi even surpassed the ranking round world record of 698 set earlier this month by Phoebe Pine Paterson of Britain but the Turkish archer overtook her to claim the coveted point.
Devi shot 59 10s and 24 Xs while her Turkish opponent had 56 10s and 29 Xs in the 72-arrow competition on the opening day of the Paralympic Games. The top four finishers in the ranking round, including Devi, received byes to the round of 32 and will play in the round of 16 on Saturday.
Devi will face the winner of the 32nd round, Mariana Zuniga of Chile and Choi Na Mi of Korea, who finished 15th and 18th respectively in the ranking round.
Zuniga won silver in the women's individual compound open at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Sarita, another Indian in the fray, finished ninth with a score of 682 and will face Abdul Jalil Nur Jannaton of Malaysia in the round of 16 on Friday.
Devi had become a sensation at the Asian Para Games held last year in Hangzhou, China, where she became the first Indian woman to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Games. She had also won a third medal, a silver.
She won gold medals in the women's individual compound tournament, as well as in the mixed team tournament, and silver in the women's doubles tournament in Hangzhou.
Devi was discovered in a military camp in a remote part of Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir and was adopted by the Indian Army as a child. Last year she also became the first armless woman to win a medal at the Para World Archery Championships.
Devi was born with phocomelia syndrome, a rare birth defect that leaves her limbs underdeveloped.
In the men's individual open ranking round on the recurve, Tokyo Paralympic bronze medallist Harvinder Singh finished ninth with a score of 637.
On September 4, he will face Tseng Lung-Hui from Chinese Taipei in the round of 16.
In the men's individual compound open ranking round, Rakesh Kumar and Shyam Sundar Swami finished fifth and fifteenth with scores of 696 and 688 respectively.
In the women's individual recurve open ranking round, Pooja finished seventh with a score of 585.
In para-archery, athletes from two classes – wheelchair (W1, W2) and open – can participate (in the same event) at the Paralympic Games.
Para archers who compete in a wheelchair must lose some degree of muscle strength, coordination, or range of motion in their arms.
Para-archers in the open category can compete in a wheelchair, standing or leaning on a stool. They either have extremely limited movement in their trunk and limbs with normal arm function or balance problems.
Devi will compete in a standing position, while Turkey's Oznur Girdi Cure, who finished first in the ranking round, will be in the W2 category.
Competitions include a ranking round in which archers shoot 72 arrows (12 ends of six arrows each) over distances of 50m or 70m. Each archer has four minutes to shoot his six arrows.
After the ranking round, para archers compete against each other in elimination rounds consisting of five rounds, with the athletes using three arrows per round.
Para-archery events include recurve and compound bows, as well as mixed teams.
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