Para Archery World Ranking Series: Sheetal Devi back in action to lead Indian contingent

Indian para-archers are ready to kick start their season in a tough field at the eighth Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament in Dubai, UAE, from March 3 to 7.

Star players like Sheetal Devi, Rakesh Kumar and Harvinder Singh will lead the 14-member Indian contingent for the first ranking tournament of the year in the run-up to the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

The event will also serve as a final World Qualification Tournament for the Paris Paralympics. The finalists in all six individual categories at the final qualification tournament will secure a quota place each for their countries.

India already has won six quota places for the event with four of them coming in the compound event, while it won one each in the recurve events. Indian archers will be aiming to add a few more quota places from the Dubai event.

Sheetal Devi will be playing her first international event after becoming the world no.1 in the women's compound open category. She will also eye for her first individual gold on the world stage after dominating the continental championships.

This will be her second-ranking event. The last time she won a silver medal was at the Nove Mesto European Cup in 2023.

Rakesh Kumar, who is one of the most experienced para-archers in the team, will lead from the front in the men's compound category. He is the defending champion in this category and will be aiming to defend the title.

Rakesh ranked second in the world. He will face tough competition from the world champion Matteo Bonacina of Italy and world no.4, Kevin Polish of the USA.

In the recurve category, Paralympic medallist Harvinder Singh will be leading the charts for India to start his quest for back to back medals at this prestigious tournament.

Squad

Compound Men - Rakesh Kumar, Mohd. Sarvej, Shyam Sundar Swami, Suraj Singh

Compound Women - Jyoti, Sheetal Devi, Sarita

Recurve Men - Harvinder Singh, Parveen, Vivek Chikara

Recurve women - Pooja, Bhawna, Pooja

W1 Men - Mohamed Nazir Adil Ansari

Schedule

3 March - 11:00 AM - Qualification round - Recurve men, Men's W1

3 March - 4:30 PM - Qualification round - Recurve women, Compound women

4 March - 11:00 AM - Qualification round - Compound Men

4 March - 6:30 PM - Elimination round - Mixed Team events

5 March - 11:00 AM - Elimination rounds - Individual events

6 March - 11:30 AM - Final Qualification events for Paris 2024

7 March - 11:00 AM - Medal matches of all events

Live streaming info:

The final qualification event for the 2024 Paris Paralympics, to be held from March 3 to 7, will be streamed live on the YouTube channel of Dubai Club For People Of Determination channel.