Paris, Aug 29 (IANS): India's top hope in women's para-archery, Sheetal Devi started the Paralympic Games with an impressive performance in the Women's Individual Compound Open Ranking Round here, qualifying for the next stage with a second-place finish on Thursday. In the Men's Recurve Individual Ranking Round, India's Tokyo Paralympic Games bronze medal winner Harvinder Singh finished 9th with a score of 637 (19 10s, 5 Xs).

Sheetal, the only armless female archer in the fray in the competition, made the country proud on the global stage by scoring a sensational 703 points in the qualification round. This is her personal best score and just one point short of the World Record.

In the Compound Open Ranking Round, the 16-year-old Sheetal, who participates in the ST category, shot 59 arrows in the 10-zone and 24 in the inner 10 (bullseye) as she ended up with a score of 703. Sheetal managed a score better than the World Record of 698 set by Phoebe Pine Paterson of Great Britain in August 2024.

However, Türkiye's Oznur Cure Girdi set a new World Record with a score of 704, shooting 56 arrows in 10s and 29 Xs. Onzur, the World Champion in the Individual Compound Open category in 2023 and silver medalist in Team Compound Open in the Tokyo Paralympics, also broke the Paralympic Record of 694 points held by Jessica Stretton of Great Britain.

Although she narrowly missed the world record by just 1 point, Sheetal's outstanding performance has proved that she is in top form and will be the top contender for the gold medal. She will next step out for the Round of 32 matches as she has received a bye in the first elimination round.

In the Round of 32, Sheetal will take on the winner of the match between Mariana Zuniga of Chile and Choi Nami of South Korea

Meanwhile, India's Sarita too started well in the Ranking Round as she finished 9th with a score of 682 (40 10s, 15 Xs). Sarita, who is in the W2 class, will take on Nur Jannaton Abdul Jalil of Malaysia in the 1/16 Elimination Round on Friday. If Sarita wins on Friday, she will meet the winner of the all-Italian match between Guila Pesci and Eleonora Sarti.

Harvinder, who had finished third in the Men's individual recurve Open in Tokyo, is hoping to upgrade his medal this time and become the first para-archer from the country to win medals in back-to-back Paralympic Games.