Sheetal Devi, along with four fellow archers – Ojas Deotale, Jyothi Vennam, Aditi Swami and Rakesh Kumar – were honoured with Times of India sports awards for 2023 at a glittering ceremony in Lucknow, on 23 February.
The sixth edition of the awards, more commonly known as TOISA, bestowed upon standout athletes across various sport disciplines in 20 categories, celebrating the remarkable achievements and unwavering commitment of India’s elite athletes.
Devi was rewarded with the title of para sportperson of the year jointly with javelin thrower Sumit Antil, as well as female para archer of the year.
“Thank you for recognising my effort,” said the 17-year-old. “This is an important year for all of us and recognition like these is a big boost in our preparation for the Paralympics.”
“My journey has just begun and there’s a long way to go where I aspire to bring more laurels to my country,” she added, as she gets ready for the final world qualification tournament for the Paris 2024 Paralympics on 2-7 March in Dubai.
Rakesh Kumar became India’s first-ever gold medallist in the World Archery Para Championships when he claimed the world title in mixed team event alongside Sarita last summer. The 39-year-old was named male para archer of the year.
Ojas Deotale and Jyothi Vennam were presented with the archers of the year awards in the male and female categories, while teenage sensation Aditi Swami was named the emerging sportsperson of the year, along with shooter Esha Singh.
Recurve archer Atanu Das was previously named archer of the year in 2017.
