Archery enables Payal to rise above obstacles

Inspirational para archers Sheetal Devi and Payal Nag defy odds with skill and determination in Khelo India Para Games.

At the archery arena of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, a few claps and cheers rang out before the sixth match of a sunny Sunday morning. That Sheetal Devi was eyeing gold in the women’s compound archery event of the second Khelo India Para Games was one reason. The 18-year-old para archer from Jammu & Kashmir rose to popularity in 2024 when she won bronze in the mixed team compound event at the Paris Paralympics. She uses her legs to shoot the arrow, a rare medical condition resulting in the absence of arms at birth.

But the interest around this particular contest also had to do with the opponent challenging Sheetal for the top prize. That was Payal Nag, a 17-year-old para archer from Odisha who lost her arms and legs due to an electrocution accident in 2015. Notwithstanding the tragic turn that her life took a decade ago, she wears a peppy smile and enjoys defying the odds with the bow and arrow. While she was second-best in Sunday’s final, she was quick to point out that she defeated Sheetal at the para archery Nationals in Jaipur in January to clinch gold.

“This is my first time at Khelo India. So, I was feeling nervous competing in front of these many people. But it felt good once I started playing. I have beaten Sheetal once in the past. So I wasn’t scared. I was playing with confidence,” Payal, who was introduced to archery only two years ago, told The Hindu.

The common link to both differently-abled teenagers is coach Kuldeep Vedwan.

“Payal is the first archer in the world, male or female, without arms and legs,” Vedwan, who used to train Sheetal, said. “I saw Payal through a post on X. I saw it as a challenge to train someone without any of the limbs. I went to her village in Balangir in Odisha. She was at an orphanage and I took her from there to my academy.”

To add to Payal’s hurdles, informed Vedwan, World Archery came up with an objection recently about her way of releasing the arrow.

“She was using a device where both her prosthetic legs helped release the arrow. But the world body had an objection to that. The rules allow you to push with one limb and pull with one limb. So I changed the device. She has been using it only for the past one month,” he elaborated. “She now pushes with her prosthetic right leg and pulls with her right shoulder. Earlier, she would push with both her legs and pull with her right shoulder.”