New Delhi: The 2023 World Champion and Asian Games gold medalist Sheetal Devi became the first Indian archer to win the World Archery award on Friday.
Sheetal Devi, who hailed from Jammu and Kashmir was honored as the best female para-archer of the year for her extraordinary performance at the Para Asian Games to win the compound women’s category and the Para Archery World Championship.
The 2023 Athletes of the Year awards were categorized in six different divisions. Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion Sara Lopez (Colombia), double circuit stage winners Lim Sihyeon (Korea) and Jozef Bosansky (Slovakia), and Paralympian Guillaume Toucoullet (France) are other winners along with Sheetal. These categories were decided by a weighted public, institutional and press vote, which opened in mid-November and ran for one month. Notably, over 750,000 votes were casted to determine the results.
The 16-year-old had an exceptional 2023 as she clinched three Para Asian Games medals comprising two gold and a silver at Hangzhou in China. She also topped the World Para Archery rankings earlier this year and also won the Para Archery World Championships.
Aditi Swami and Jyothi Surekha Vennam missed out on any award but they can be awarded later on February 3 when the breakthrough of the year, coach of the year, and overall athlete of the year will be awarded.
Aditi Swami also had a brilliant year as she became the youngest world champion at the age of 17 and then won a gold along with Jyothi Vennam in team event and a silver medal in individual event in the Asian Games 2023. Jyothi Vennam was the one who led India's archery contingent and created history by bagging three gold medals which is the most by an Indian athlete in the archery event of Asian Games.
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