Nagoya, Oct 22: Sheetal Devi and Toman Kumar, world's bronze medallists, won gold in the Compound Mixed Team at the Asian Para Games here on Thursday.
The India duo registered a 151-148 win over the Indonesians, giving India their first gold in archery in the ongoing edition of the Para Asian Games.
This is Sheetal's second medal at the Aichi-Nagoya games, having won a silver in Para Compound women's doubles with Payal Nag.
Sheetal and Toman Kumar set a new world record in the mixed team round as records tumbled in Okazaki. The 18-year-old scored 704 points out of a possible 720, matching the world record held by Turkiye's Oznur Cure Girdi.
Sheetal also improved her own Asian record of 698, set in Bangkok in March, by six points and raised the Asian Para Games record from 680 to 704. The reigning world champions and world number ones, Sheetal and Kumar, then combined for 1402 points in the mixed team qualification, breaking the previous world record of 1400, also set by India.
Defending champion in compound individual, Sheetal made a remarkable start to her Asian Para Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 campaign on Monday, equalling the world record in the compound women’s qualification. She then teamed up with quadruple-amputee archer Payal in the compound women’s doubles qualification.
Their combined score of 1379 set new Asian and Games records, surpassing the previous Asian mark of 1378. Payal contributed 675 points, helping the Indian pair top the women's doubles ranking.
Sheetal won gold in the women's compound individual event at the 2023 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou before claiming a bronze medal at the Paris Paralympics in 2024. She has also earned world champion status, establishing herself among the sport's elite despite her young age.
Meanwhile, Toman is a world champion in the men's compound individual category and is also the world No. 1 in his classification.
--IANS