New Delhi

As the world’s only armeless para archer Sheetal Devi qualifies to join the Indian national team for an upcoming international archery competition, the world is praising this 19-year old girl’s gumption to dream big and work to make her dream come true.

Sheetal hails from a small hilly village in Jammu’s Kishtwar district and has already won gold in all major international para-archery events. She won a bronze in the 2024 Paris para Olympics.

She finished third in the Sonipat selection trials, securing her place on India's junior able-bodied team for the Asia Cup Stage 3 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from December 10-15.

After the selection trials for the Junior Indian Archery Team for the Asia Cup 2025, four of our SAI NCOE archers: Rampal, Mayank, Pradhuman and Rohit have earned their place in the Indian squad. 🇮🇳🏹

In a historic moment for Indian archery, Para Champion Sheetal Devi has also… pic.twitter.com/N3J5tdFHS4

— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) November 7, 2025

Born without arms, Sheetal uses her feet and chin to shoot and becomes the first Indian para athlete to qualify for an able-bodied international event.

After her selection, Sheetal Devi wrote a heartfelt post about her dream of competing with and winning medals in able-bodied  archers which evoked a lot of responses from people of all walks:

Sheetal, I never had ANY doubt that you were ‘able-bodied.’

In fact, you are more able-bodied than all the rest of us …

And your heart is the strongest…

You make India proud

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽@ArcherSheetal https://t.co/wVyU8LE8IG

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) November 7, 2025

Noted sports commentrater Harsha Bhogle's response to Sheetal was equally moving:

Sometimes you just bow to people out of respect and awe. Wow @ArcherSheetal. https://t.co/ZIoGjQh1io

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 7, 2025