Paralympics 2024: Sheetal Devi makes Exit after agonizing heartbreak, Sarita Kumari faces defeat

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India faced disappointment in archery at the Paralympics as Sheetal Devi was eliminated in the last 16 of the compound women's open category on Saturday.

Sarita Kumari also had her amazing run in the games end in a disappointing manner. Sarita had a strong start but was eventually defeated by top-seed Oznur Cure Girdi of Korea. Sheetal Devi, on the other hand, lost against Chile's Mariana Zuniga by the narrowest of margins.

Sheetal Devi's Narrow Heartbreak

Sheetal Devi, who uses her toes to draw the arrow, faced a tough match against Tokyo silver medalist Mariana Zuniga of Chile. Despite starting positively and taking the opening set 29-28, Sheetal's performance faltered when she hit a 7-point red ring in the second end. This allowed Mariana to level the score at 55-all.

The competition remained intense as both archers matched each other closely over the next eight arrows. However, Mariana edged out Sheetal by shooting a 9 in the final arrow while Sheetal slipped to the 8-ring, resulting in a narrow one-point loss for Sheetal.

Sarita Kumari suffer Defeat

Ninth-seeded Sarita Kumari had an impressive run before being stopped by Oznur Cure Girdi. Oznur, who set a world record with a score of 704 out of 720 points in qualifying, took an early lead with three perfect 10s in the second end. Although Sarita managed to take the third end and matched Oznur's perfect fourth end, she couldn't close the gap and lost with Oznur scoring 29 in the fifth end.

Earlier, Sarita had dominated her pre-quarterfinal match against Italy's Eleonora Sarti, winning 141-135.

It is a big disappointment for India's archery contingent as two of their top performers have bowed out of the Paris Paralympics 2024.