World Archery honored Sheetal Devi with ‘Para Archer of the Year 2025’

World Archery has selected India’s Sheetal Devi as the ‘Para Archer of the Year 2025’. The 19-year-old athlete from Jammu and Kashmir has become the first and only armless female archer to win gold at the World Para Archery Championship.

In the year 2025, she became the first Indian archer to win the BBC Emerging Athlete of the Year award.

She had achieved top honors in the women’s compound individual event in Gwangju, South Korea last year.

She also won a complete set of medals at the World Championship, including a silver in the women’s team event and a bronze in the mixed team event.

Apart from the World Championship gold, Sheetal also has a bronze medal at the Paris Paralympics in the mixed team event, along with individual silver medals from the 2022 Asian Para Games and the 2023 Asian Championship held in Bangkok.

Despite having a condition called Phocomelia, Sheetal has established herself as a world-class compound archer with strong determination.

The World Archery Awards, started in 2011, honor outstanding performance and significant contributions in the sport, and celebrate athletes who have defined the international archery season.

Other winners honored by World Archery

‘Archer of the Year’ award - Turkey’s Emircan Hani.

‘Young Archer of the Year’ award - France’s Baptiste Addis.

‘Best Team of the Year’ award - Korea’s recurve men’s team.

'Coach of the Year' award - Elias Cuesta, USA.

'Judge of the Year' award - Lais Machado Nunes of Brazil.

A new category of 'Fair Play' was also introduced this year. This award was given to France’s Florent Mulot.

As part of the 2025 edition, the 'Best Event of the Year' award was also introduced, in which the Gwangju 2025 Hyundai World Archery Championship was declared the first winner.

About World Archery

World Archery was established in 1931 in Poland and was founded as the Fédération Internationale de Tir à l'Arc (FITA) by representatives of seven countries.

The current President of World Archery is Greg Easton, who has been serving in this role since 2025, and its Secretary General is Raul Calin. The federation’s headquarters is located in the Olympic capital Lausanne, Switzerland. Archery was first included in the modern Olympic Games from 1900 to 1908 and again in 1920. This goal was achieved in 1972.

The earliest evidence of archery, in the form of flint arrowheads, dates back to around 20,000 BCE. It is possible that early humans used bows and arrows even before this.