There is no shortage of stories about Sheetal Devi’s prowess, but Aalap Jawadekar likes to start with a story from the Paris Paralympics. One afternoon inside the Athletes’ Village, the physical therapist found himself locked out of the sports science office – keys in hand, the door refusing to budge.
That’s when Sheetal Devi entered. Without hesitation, she took the keys, but made mistakes again and again, and finally, with disarming calm, she opened the lock – using her toes. Jawadekar is still wondering at the moment. “The more you think she can’t do something, the more she proves you wrong,” he says.
Born without arms, there are few things Sheetal cannot do. She eats and writes with her toes, and once climbed trees with ease, and now shoots arrows with them.
In defying physics, the 18-year-old steps into uncharted territory for the Indian athlete. Last week, she placed third among 60 shooters in the combined women’s qualifiers for next month’s Asian Cup in Jeddah. In doing so, Sheetal became the first Indian archer to earn a spot in the national able-bodied team, a feat achieved through natural core strength, frugal innovation and cutting-edge sports science.
Release aid
Even four years ago, when shooting coach Kuldeep Vidwan first took her under his wings, there wasn’t even a mechanism in India that would enable her to shoot, let alone hit the bullseye. Vidwan said: “She asked me: Even if I lift the bow with my legs, how will I let the arrow fly?”
The moment he saw her, he had a plan. The veteran instructor saw how OG armless archer, American Matt Stutzman, shot arrows with the help of a launch aid.
Healthy compound shooters wear a belt that wraps around their wrists and has a trigger that resembles a rifle. The moment the trigger is pulled with their fingers, the arrow is released.
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Sheetal Devi in action. Credit: World Archery
Stutzman improvised this technique. He first wrapped a belt around his chest. The belt had a release aid placed over his right shoulder, which he used to attach to the bow string. He then used his jaw to squeeze the trigger of the release tool, allowing the arrow to fly. “He designed all this himself. I studied the equipment and made a similar device for Sheetal,” says Vidwan. “There was no other way for her to fire the arrow.”
However, Sheetal sustained a cut on her chin due to the constant pressure. “The chin is not accustomed to this type of load because it has a softer muscle structure,” explains Ayushi Tomer, a physiotherapist at Sheetal. “So, every time she shot, she would get hurt. Because of the pressure, the recoil would hit her chin, and it was very painful.”
Improve toe grip
The release is the conclusion of Sheetal’s poetic work.
It starts when the teen uses her legs to load an arrow and lifts the 53-pound bow with her toe and second finger, before letting it fly in one smooth motion. Several muscles work simultaneously – the right leg rises first to raise the arrow, then the bow; Hip movement as she draws the arrow; Slight movement of the shoulder to bring the release tool closer to the chin; Then apply slight pressure to release the assist actuator.
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“If everything was moving like a log, you wouldn’t really be able to distinguish those little movements,” says Jawadekar. “So, there’s a lot of isolation required between the torso, hips and feet. That’s where the precision element comes in as well.”
“A lot of what she does comes from her natural strength,” says Anukul Bharadwaj, head of the Paralympic program at OGQ, who looks after Sheetal’s daily training. “But she also built her strength through strength training. She is much stronger now than she was four years ago,” he adds.
An unexpected exercise is to use clay, a tool borrowed from archery, to improve control. “In shooting, it helps control the trigger pressure,” explains Tomer, who has trained it for two years. “I knew it would help her stabilize the bow.”
The first day Sheetal was given clay to work with, she made a snake out of it. “She’s constantly doing something or other with it,” Tomer laughs. “Even now, I make sure she carries it whenever I travel…it simply grabs the clay and constantly applies pressure to it, even if we are moving our leg. Because if there is a slight change in pressure, it can have an impact on the actual shot.”
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Lifting dumbbells with the feet
The trainers have improvised on several fronts to make her strong, but Jawadekar says he is still amazed as he watches Sheetal perform some of the exercises. Like the time she sits on a bench, lifts a 5kg dumbbell, and extends her toes.
“Imagine her sitting on a chair and holding a bow; in this exact position, she is holding a 5-kg dumbbell with her feet; she is actually holding it between her toe and second toe,” says Jawadekar. “First of all, it’s hard to straighten the knee and then your body shakes…but she does it so easily. It’s crazy how I was able to hold it for 2-3 minutes. It’s impossible!”
He now knew better than to underestimate the girl who could open any door – with her feet or sheer will.
(tags for translation) Sheetal Devi
