“ Didi, mujhe bhi archery karni hai (Sister, I too want to do archery),” the girl said. 

“ Theek hai. Aa jao (Okay. Please, come here),” replied Sheetal Devi, the Asian Games gold medallist.

It was a simple exchange between two teenaged girls over a video call in 2023. 

Last week, that girl, competing in only her second international event, beat World Champion Sheetal in the compound women’s open final of the World Archery Para Series event in Bangkok.

Her name—Payal Nag.

But Payal’s story doesn’t start from that quick conversation with Sheetal. 

In 2015, while Payal’s parents were busy working at a brick kiln in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, she was wandering around like any other seven-year-old when tragedy struck. She came into contact with a live wire. Consequently, the kid lost all four of her limbs.

ALSO READ | World Archery announces LA 2028 qualification process for recurve, compound events

The parents, despite societal taunts about the young daughter’s future, took care of her in their hometown of Balangir in Odisha. Barsha, her elder sister, became a major support. 

Gradually, Payal took a liking to the world of painting and would draw sketches with her mouth. In 2022, for a better overall development, she was taken to Parbati Giri Bal Niketan—a government institute for childcare.

“Our District Collector Sir took me to the  Ashram. I used to draw even when I was at home and had even participated in one or two competitions. I used to sing as well. At the institute, competitions amongst the kids were held on a regular basis. There, a teacher named Prachi guided me,” recalls Payal. 

“Then came a big drawing competition—Surbhi. I won the first prize. I even went on to compete at the State level. This is where someone tweeted about me.”

Call it the power of social media or pure destiny—Kuldeep Vedwan, Sheetal’s coach, saw Payal. 

Vedwan, who Payal addresses as  Guru Ji, contacted the institute, got in touch with the District Collector, and made arrangements to bring Payal, along with her elder sister Barsha as her caretaker, to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Academy in Katra, Jammu and Kashmir.

Payal, who was also willing to learn archery during a video call with Vedwan and Sheetal, now had the chance to train.

The world had never witnessed a quadruple amputee in para archery. It was a journey into the unknown. But Vedwan had been here before with Sheetal. 

Sheetal was born with phocomelia, a rare congenital condition due to which she had no arms. But Vedwan made a special equipment and trained her. Sheetal’s hard work bore fruit and her achievements turned her into an inspirational icon. 

For Payal, Vedwan did the unthinkable again. By integrating a specialised mechanism into her prosthetic and securing it to her shoulder, he allowed her to anchor the bow via her mouth and trigger the release through a sharp shoulder movement.

Watching Sheetal practise in front of her gave Payal the necessary confidence to train, but she had to do so differently.

“In the initial stages, Payal used both prosthetic legs to shoot the arrows but it is against the international rules. Slowly, we switched to a single prosthetic limb,” says Abhilasha Chaudhary, who has also been coaching Payal at the academy and travels with the Indian para archery team.

“Once she became capable enough to shoot and hit 10s on a consistent basis, we had to customise the equipment so that she could perform using a single prosthetic leg. We also had to change the grip of her foot. Finally, we got the equipment approved by World Archery.”

After training for a year and a half, Payal took part in her first-ever event—the Para Archery Nationals in Jaipur in January. There, she grabbed two medals and also beat Sheetal for the first time. 

That confidence of having beaten Sheetal earlier held Payal in good stead in Bangkok.

“ Itna bhi darr nahin lag raha tha. Ma’am pichhe se samjha bhi rahe the. (I wasn’t that scared. Ma’am was also guiding me from behind,” says the 18-year-old on facing her idol in the final at a global stage.)

After winning the women’s team gold together, it was time for an individual battle. Payal led Sheetal 27-25 after the first end of three arrows in the summit clash. But Sheetal, a year senior to Payal and much more experienced, equalised the score at 54-54. Another set of three arrows later, Payal was in front again at 82-80. With three more arrows to go, Payal led Sheetal by three—110-107.

Sheetal shot first and started the final end with a 10. Payal’s lead was down to two as she shot a 9. Then, Sheetal hit a 9 and shook her head slightly, realising that she had missed an opportunity. Payal responded with a 10. Sheetal came up with a 10 in her final shot. Payal needed only an 8 to secure the win but she matched Sheetal’s effort to put the icing on the cake. 

Once the competition was over, Payal received a warm embrace from her senior. In a heartwarming gesture, Sheetal also helped in turning Payal’s wheelchair so that she could face the tricolour as the national anthem was to be played during the medal ceremony. 

Payal’s success means a lot to her family. “My parents are really happy because earlier, people used to say, ‘ Kuchh nahin kar payegi’ (She won’t be able to do anything) about me. I have proved myself to those who didn’t have faith in me,” says the teenager. Her parents, along with her two younger siblings, also visit her in Katra sometimes and watch her train in person.

Payal’s victory is significant for Sheetal as well. “It was tough for her to do archery. I was worried about her. I could use my feet, but she had no limbs. How will she manage the grip? But Kuldeep Sir made a special device for her. Then, I felt that she could do it.  Mujhe boht khushi huyi thi jab usne pehla teer chalaya tha (I was really happy when she shot her first arrow) . I felt she would have to work harder, but she will manage,” recalls Sheetal, a Paralympic medallist, on watching Payal train at the academy.

In Payal, Sheetal has also found a strong teammate, “Winning and losing is part of the game. It’s good that she is here. I felt like I was alone, winning medals. With her, India will win more medals. The mixed team and women’s team have become better,” she says.

Payal is back to her daily routine at the academy, a place Sheetal left last year and shifted to Patiala to train under Gaurav Sharma to reinvent her technique after a major World Archery rule change made it illegal for the heel to touch the bow.

Payal, who is amongst the 10 per cent differently abled students at the academy, trains from 7:30 a.m. along with other able-bodied kids. The post-lunch training session begins at 2:30 p.m. and ends at 6 p.m. 

“Training with able-bodied archers does have a positive effect on para archers’ performance,” says Abhilasha.

She believes that Payal can follow Sheetal, who made history last year by making it to the national able-bodied squad for the Asia Cup in Jeddah after finishing third among more than 60 compound women archers in the selection trials.

For now, Payal’s goal is to prepare for this year’s Asian Para Games and later, win gold at the Los Angeles Paralympics in 2028. 

But what about drawing—the thing which started it all? “I still paint whenever I get time. My last painting was of  Kanha Ji (Lord Krishna) on my room’s wall,” she answers.

And singing? “ Kabhi Kabhi (sometimes),” she says with a huge smile on her face.

Published on Apr 12, 2026