Paris Paralympics: Indian Recurve Archer Pooja Enters Quarterfinals

World Para Championship silver medallist Pooja Jatyan beat Yagmur Sengul of Turkey in straight sets to storm into the quarterfinals of recurve women’s open archery competition at the Paris Paralympics on Tuesday. The 27-year-old, who got a bye into the pre-quarters after finishing inside top-9 in the ranking round, won 6-0 and will face Tokyo Paralympics bronze medallist Wu Chunyan of China in the quarters later in the day. The second-seeded Chunyan defeated Oyun-Erdene Buyanjargal of Mongolia in her pre-quarterfinal match.

Pooja took the first set by hitting three 9s in a row. Continuing her stronghold, she totalled 26 points while her opponent struggled with a 22 to concede a 2-0 lead to the Indian.

The archer from Gurgaon faced some resistance from Sengul in the third set when she hit two 9s and an 8, but Pooja remained calm to edge the Turkey archer by one point and seal the win.

In 1997, when Pooja was just two months old, a high fever and a wrong injection due to medical negligence changed her life forever, resulting in polio in her left leg.

Despite these setbacks, Pooja’s resilience shone through as she embraced archery in her childhood.

Pooja won a silver medal in the Women’s Team event at the Asian Para Championship 2023.

In 2024, she continued her success by securing a silver medal at the 8th Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament and claiming gold medals in both the Women’s Team and Mixed Team events at the Para Archery European Cup 2nd Leg.

In the recurve open category, archers shoot from a standing position at a distance of 70m at a 122cm target made up of 10 concentric circles scoring from 10 points down to 1 point from the centre outwards.

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