Paris, Sep 2 (PTI) India archers Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar went down in shoot-off after a dramatic semifinal clash against Iran’s Fatemeh Hemmati and Hadi Nori in the mixed team compound open event at the Paris Paralympics here on Monday.

The Indians looked on course to make the final but a remarkable Iranian rally and revision of score by a judge came in their way of scripting history.

The match went into shoot-off after the scores were tied 152-152.

It seemed like the Indians had won it after the Iranians shot a nine with their fourth arrow in the final end. However, much to the disappointment of the Indian duo, the target judge revised a shot of nine from Iran (their second arrow in the final end) to 10 after evaluation, taking the contest into shoot-off.

Both the teams had perfect scores in shoot-off but Fatemeh’s arrow hit the centre. Her shot was much closer to the bulls eye, paving the way for Iran’s passage to the final.

Harvinder Singh remains India’s only Paralympics medallist in archery, having won a bronze at the Tokyo edition of the Games three years ago.

Earlier, the Indian pair combined well to progress to the semifinals with a 154-143 win over Indonesia’s Teodora Audi Ayudia Ferellyin and Ken Swagumilang.

The top seeds in the mixed compound open event, Sheetal and Rakesh, displayed fine form en route to the semifinal.

The Iranian duo prevailed over Brazil’s Jane Karla Gogel and Reinaldo Vagner Charao Ferreira 153-151 in their quarterfinal clash.

The Indians sealed the win with a perfect 40 in the fourth and final end.

In open class (compound bows, for archers with little strength in the arms), archers shoot from a sitting position at a distance of 50m at an 80cm five-ring target made up of the 10-6 point bands.

Sheetal, 17, was born in 2007 with phocomelia, a rare congenital disorder leading to underdeveloped limbs. The condition resulted in her arms not fully forming.

The 39-year-old Rakesh suffered a spinal cord injury and after recovering in 2009 he realised he would be wheelchair-bound for life, which plunged him into depression and even forced him to contemplate taking his own life.

On Sunday, Rakesh lost to China’s He Zihao by one point in the men’s compound open category bronze medal match.

Source: PTI News