KOLKATA: “Sheetal and I are friends off the field, but once we spot the target and take aim…”Three days after dominating the World Archery Para Series event and beating Sheetal Devi for the individual compound gold in Bangkok, Payal Nag trails off when describing the moment. “We have a fierce competitive mindset when playing against each other,” she revealed to TOI on Tuesday.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The 18-year-old had already beaten Sheetal for gold earlier — at the Paralympic Nationals in January 2025 — and had stretched her to the limit in the Khelo India Para Games and at the National Championships earlier this year, where she won a silver and a bronze.At the Thailand event, Payal partnered Sheetal in the team event and together, the girls displayed uncommon determination and skill to win women’s gold on Friday. The daughter of a dailywage labourer, 8-year-old Payal was playing with her brother when she stepped on a naked wire lying in a puddle of water at a nearby construction site. The Class III girl was critically injured, leaving the doctors with no option but to amputate all her four limbs to save her life.With little means to care for a quadruple amputee, her parents Bijay and Janata were advised by the then district collector of Bolangir in Odisha to send Payal to an orphanage, the Parbati Giri Bal Niketan in their home district. Relatives and neighbours had other suggestions to swiftly put her out of her misery — to end her life. “She won’t be able to eat or walk, better to just give her some poison,” they said.Bijay and Janata were made of sterner stuff. And today, just ten years after that accident, things have turned a full circle for their daughter — Payal being the only limbless archer to compete on the international stage. “When people made those remarks, I was still young but I remember them clearly. It was tough, but now when I look back on those very words, I feel a mix of emotions — it’s both painful and gratifying,” Payal revealed.“I feel grateful to those who spoke against me; it was precisely because they said those things that I was able to summon the courage to push forward and reach such great heights.”Payal was grateful to her coach Vedwan who was drawn to a painting by the girl, having taken to art at the orphanage. Vedwan came across the painting posted on ‘X’, and in 2023, brought her to the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Sports Complex in Jammu and introduced her to a new chapter in life.Vedwan developed a customised bow for her with an identical release mechanism that he had devised for Sheetal. Payal could lift the special bow with prosthetic legs fitted with a steel device along with the chest release mechanism. Arrows have to be loaded by someone else, in Payal’s case her 20-yearold sister Barsa who stays with her in Jammu. “I didn’t know anything about archery and took two years to master the skills,” she explained.There has been no looking back for the archer who is now concentrating on winning India a gold at the Asian Games and at the Paralympics. “My parents are incredibly happy right now. They called me to come back home to Odisha, but I have decided not to go just yet. That’s because I want to win another international medal. Since I have specific training requirements to meet, I am staying back in Jammu for now. I just want to go out there and win again,” Payal declared.

Rishabh Yadav. Photo: World Archery Federation via Getty Images

NEW DELHI: Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu returned to India after being stranded in Dubai since February 28 following the closure of airspace in West Asia due to escalating conflict in the region. As a result, she had to give the All England Badminton, which began on Tuesday in Birmingham, a miss.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!On Tuesday, Sindhu informed that she might also miss the Yonex Swiss Open, a Super 300 event in Basel scheduled from March 10 to 15, due to curtailed flight operations across the Gulf region and the unavailability of tickets on most airlines. The tournament carries a prize purse of $250,000 (approx Rs 2.1 cr).“Swiss Open is definitely a target. But as I speak, all the flights are going full. I have been trying every day to book myself on one of them, but there are no tickets available. Everything is via Dubai and it’s been a challenge. We all know taking the Dubai flight route is risky. Let’s see what happens in the next few days,” Sindhu said in a media interaction facilitated by SAI.“I am searching for options but nothing has been working out so far. I have to also think about my coach (Indonesian Irwansyah Adi Pratama) and his safety.” Sindhu said that the Badminton World Federation has waived a financial penalty of $5,000 for her no-show at the All England, acknowledging the extraordinary situation. However, discussions around a possible loss of her ranking points ahead of a season involving the CWG, Asian Games and World Championships, are ongoing, with Sindhu expecting an amicable solution due to “extraordinary circumstances”.“There are BWF regulations in place for skipping a Super 1000 or Super 750 tournaments by top-ranked players. If the world body doesn’t find the reasons valid, they would fine a player $5,000. I wrote a mail to BWF from Dubai. They understood my situation, as probably it was the first time that such a thing happened and waived off my penalty. That was one relief.“About the ranking points, they told me to send a collaborative mail detailing my circumstances. I’m waiting for their response. They will convey the decision in a day’s time,” said Sindhu, who is also a member of BWF’s Athletes Commission.“I just pray it was the first time and the last time I experience something like this. It’s going to be hard (to forget). You train so hard and then something completely beyond your control prevents you from competing in a big event.”

File picture of Neeraj Phogat (PTI Photo)

NEW DELHI: The Boxing Federation of India’s (BFI) selection criteria to pick the national team for the forthcoming Asian Championships in Ulaanbaatar on Monday ran into a controversy after two leading female boxers, Neeraj Phogat and Jyoti Gulia, alleged favouritism and manipulation of results in the selection of the 20-member contingent for the continental meet, scheduled from March 28 to April 11 in the Mongolian capital. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!As per the BFI’s policy, the finalists at the Asian meet in approved weight categories will be selected as India’s direct entries for the Glasgow CWG and Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, to be held later this year. Both Neeraj and Jyoti missed out on selection for the Ulaanbaatar meet after failing a month-long evaluation test conducted by the BFI. The federation discontinued the practice of holding an open selection trial for boxers, as had been the norm, and instead introduced a performance-based assessment process, where the BFI officials and coaches have a final say. Former Youth World champion Jyoti finished third in rankings behind Nikhat Zareen and Nitu Ghanghas in the 51kg category. World Boxing Cup (WBC) Finals’ bronze winner Neeraj lost her place in the national camp after finishing outside the ranking bracket in her 65kg weight division. The four boxers selected in her weight class were Ankushita Boro, Sneha, Pranjal Yadav and Kajal. “While certain procedures may appear compliant with BFI guidelines on paper, in practice, there is evident favouritism, manipulation, and misuse of authority. Policies are being drafted and implemented in a manner that disproportionately benefits certain preferred boxers, particularly from the Services team, thereby compromising transparency and fairness in the selection process,” Neeraj wrote in her complaint to SAI director general (DG) Hari Ranjan Rao. “I request your office to order a thorough and impartial inquiry into the above-mentioned irregularities; constitute a high-level independent committee to investigate the selection procedures and review and revoke the current evaluation process and reinstate transparent open trials,” she added. Jyoti, too, wrote a mail to Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) CEO, N S Johal, and requested a review of assessment and trial bouts while alleging favouritism. “During the competition trials, I convincingly outperformed my opponents with a clear margin (approximately 15–20 points), which can be objectively verified through the official video recordings. Despite these performances, I was placed at Rank 3 in my weight category. This outcome has caused me serious concern, as it does not appear to reflect the performance demonstrated during both the assessment tests and the trial bouts. In the interest of fairness and justice, I request a thorough and impartial review of my trial videos, assessment scores, and evaluation criteria applied in my case,” she said.

Valsamma, while reminiscing about the glory days, feels a lot has to be done if the State wants to regain its lost sheen.
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT