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Devi, who shoots with her legs due to being born without arms, scored 703 points. She followed Oznur Girdi Cure of Turkey, who set a ranking round world record with 704 points.
Devi’s score surpassed the previous world record of 698 set by Phoebe Pine Paterson from Great Britain earlier this month.However, the Turkish archer’s performance eclipsed her new record.
Devi shot 59 tens and 24 Xs, while her Turkish opponent achieved 56 tens and 29 Xs during the 72-arrow contest. The exceptional performance on the opening day at the Paralympics allowed Devi and the other top-four finishers in the ranking round to skip the round of 32 and move directly to the round of 16.
Devi will compete against the winner of the round of 32 match between Mariana Zuniga of Chile and Choi Na Mi of Korea, who finished 15th and 18th respectively in the ranking round. Zuniga had previously won a silver medal in the women’s individual compound open at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Another Indian athlete, Sarita, finished ninth with a score of 682 and is set to face Abdul Jalil Nur Jannaton of Malaysia in the round of 32.
In last year’s Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China, Devi became the first Indian woman to win two gold medals in a single edition. She secured golds in the women’s individual compound as well as mixed team events and took a silver in the women’s doubles.
Discovered at a military camp in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir, Devi was adopted by the Indian Army in her childhood. She became the first armless woman to win a Para World Archery Championships medal last year. Devi was born with phocomelia syndrome, a rare congenital disorder resulting in underdeveloped limbs.
In the men’s individual recurve open ranking round, Tokyo Paralympics bronze medallist Harvinder Singh finished ninth with a score of 637. He will face Tseng Lung-Hui of Chinese Taipei in the round of 32 on September 4.
Rakesh Kumar and Shyam Sundar Swami participated in the men’s individual compound open ranking round, finishing fifth and 15th with scores of 696 and 688 respectively. In the women’s individual recurve open ranking round, Pooja finished seventh with a score of 585.
In para-archery, athletes from two classes—wheelchair (W1, W2) and open—can compete in the same event at the Paralympic Games. Wheelchair para-archers must show some degree of muscle strength loss, coordination, or range of movement in their arms. Open category para-archers can participate while sitting in a wheelchair, standing, or leaning on a stool, provided they have extremely limited movement in their trunk and limbs but normal arm function or balance issues.
Devi competes in a standing position, while her competitor Oznur Girdi Cure from Turkey belongs to the W2 category. Competitions involve a ranking round where archers shoot 72 arrows over distances of 50m or 70m. Each archer gets four minutes to shoot six arrows.
After the ranking round, para-archers compete head-to-head in elimination rounds, consisting of five ends, using three arrows per end. Para-archery events include recurve and compound bows, as well as mixed team events.
