Payal Nag (born 2008) is an Indian para archer from Odisha. She is a quadruple amputee.[1]
Early life
Nag is from Balangir, Odisha.[1] Her father is a daily wage mason.[2] In Class 3, she lost all her four limbs in an electrocution accident at the age of eight.[3][4] Four years after the accident, she was admitted to an orphanage, Parvatigiri Balniketan, in Balangir, with the help of the district collector.[5][6] It was Sheetal Devi's coach Kuldeep Vedwan, who also spotted and trained her at the Maata Vaishno Devi Shrine Archery Academy in Katra.[1][7] Her elder sister Varsha Nag, stays at the academy as her caregiver.[5]
Career
She won a gold medal beating Sheetal Devi in the final at the World Archery Para Series in Bangkok on 4 April 2026.[2] She beat the World No.1 Devi 139–136 in the Compound event final in only her second international event.[8] She made her international debut at the Dubai 2025 Asian Youth Para Games.[1][9] In December 2025, she beat her idol, Sheetal Devi for the first time at the Para Archery Nationals in Jaipur.[7][10] In her first major event in March 2025, she won a Compound Open silver at the Khelo India Para Games in Delhi.[10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Teenage Archer Payal Nag Clinches Gold, India Dominates World Archery Para Series". Rediff. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Graceful in defeat, Sheetal Devi helps limbless archer Payal Nag on podium: Video". India Today. 6 April 2026. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ↑ "Payal Nag, who saw Sheetal Devi's video and started Para Archery, defeats her idol for gold medal". The Indian Express. 4 April 2026. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ↑ Menon, Anirudh (5 April 2026). "Meet Payal Nag: World's first limbless archer who beat Sheetal Devi to World Archery Para Series gold". ESPN. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Defying all odds to script success: Meet Payal Nag, an archer without hands and feet". Telangana Today. 23 March 2025. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ↑ "Meet Payal Nag, para-archery star in the making and among standout performers at Khelo India Para Games". First Post. 23 March 2025. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "India's unstoppable daughter: Who is Payal Nag - World's first quadruple amputee archer". The Times of India. 7 April 2026. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ↑ "Quadruple amputee Payal Nag beats Sheetal Devi to clinch gold in World Para Archery Series". Sportstar. 4 April 2026. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ↑ Mamgaain, Tushar (7 April 2026). "Sheetal Devi Helps Limbless Archer Payal Nag After Defeat, Gesture Wins Hearts. Video". NDTV. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "17-Year-Old Quadruple Amputee Payal Nag Stuns with Double Gold Over Paralympic Star Sheetal Devi - The Logical Indian". 19 December 2025. Retrieved 8 April 2026.