Para Sports
Para Archery World C'ships: Indian archers secure Paralympics quota
Indian archers Sarita and Rakesh Kumar secured mixed team quota for the 2024 Paris Paralympics in Compound archery.
Sarita and Rakesh after creating the world record in the mixed team event of Compound Archery at Para Archery World C'ships. (Source: World Archery)
The Para archery duo of Sarita and Rakesh Kumar advanced into the final in the compound mixed team open section at the Para World Championships in Pilsen, Czech Republic on Wednesday.
The qualification for finals means that they have assured India a medal and a mixed team quota at the next year's Paris Paralympics. The Indian duo defeated Jessica Stretton and Nathan Macqueen of Great Britain 150-146 on their way to the final.
They will be up against the Brazilian duo of Jane Karla Gogel and Reinaldo Ferreira in the finals.
Earlier on day 1, Sarita set three world records in three different categories. She became the first Indian to top the ranking and set a new world record with a score of 697.
In women's doubles, Sarita paired up with 16-year-old Sheetal to create a new qualification world record of 1386 and top the qualification. Rakesh and Sarita paired up in mixed doubles to create a new world record of 1398.
“I’m really happy. It's a great day for me. I worked very hard for that and it allowed me to chill while shooting,” Sarita told World Archery after her record-breaking spree.
This performance is already one of the bests by the Indian para archers at the Para Archery World Championships and they will be looking to grab more Paralympic quotas.
