Sheetal Devi, Payal Nag Settle For Silver After Brave Fight In Asian Para Games Final

The teenage Indian pair of Sheetal Devi and Payal Nag clinched a silver medal after losing the compound women's doubles final at the Asian Para Games on Wednesday, while Swati Chaudhary and Adil Mohamed Nazir Ansari won bronze in the mixed team W1 recurve event. Sheetal, who was born without arms, and Payal, a quadruple amputee, went down 141-150 to China's Xu Xueqing and Zhao Jing in the gold-medal match. The 19-year-old Indians struggled to keep pace with their Chinese opponents after the opening end, playing catch-up for the remainder of the contest.

Paris Paralympics bronze medallist Sheetal was more consistent, shooting four 10s, but Asian Para Games debutant Payal could not match her partner's accuracy, managing only 9s and 8s before finishing with a 7 on her final arrow.

It was Sheetal's second consecutive silver medal in the event, having finished runner-up at the previous edition of the Games while partnering Sarita Devi. She is also in contention for a gold medal in the individual event.

Sheetal, who hails from Loidhar village in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, was born with phocomelia, a rare congenital condition that left her arms completely underdeveloped.

Payal suffered a life-altering accident at the age of eight when she came into contact with an 11,000-volt high-tension power line, resulting in the amputation of all four limbs.

The quadruple amputee from Odisha shot to prominence in April this year when she stunned Sheetal on her way to winning gold at the World Archery Para Series in Bangkok.

Meanwhile, Swati Chaudhary and Adil Mohamed Nazir Ansari secured bronze in the mixed team W1 recurve event.

The second-seeded Indian pair lost 2-6 (36-38, 33-35, 33-32, 31-35) to third seeds Kim Ok Geum and Park Hong Jo of Korea in the semifinals.

With only three teams in the draw, no bronze-medal match was held. Korea went on to win gold, beating top seeds China 5-4 in a shoot-off (17-15).

W1 is a para-archery classification for athletes with significant impairments in their arms and legs, including those who use wheelchairs.

The Indian pair of Toman Kumar and Shyam Sunder Swami narrowly missed out on bronze in the compound men's doubles, losing 153-154 to China's Ai Xinliang and Zhang Yicheng.

Kumar has a permanent physical impairment following the amputation of his left leg, while Swami has a locomotor impairment affecting the mobility of his lower limbs.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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