Mumbai, Oct. 22 -- In the Round of 16, Sheetal Devi scored 149 out of a possible 150. This score was one no one had achieved in an individual women's para compound archery match. Yet here was the 19-year-old from Jammu and Kashmir, who took up the sport barely five years ago, setting yet another milestone in a journey of milestones.

In 2023, she became the first armless woman to win a World Para Archery Championship medal when she clinched a silver. Last year, she became the first to win gold. At the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square, however, that 149 helped her set a new world record.

Even before the tournament began, she was the player to beat. After all, the Paris Paralympic bronze-medallist was the defending champion in th...