Payal Nag: ‘I don't have hands or feet, how will I shoot?’ Coach Kuldeep Vedwan on her journey to historic gold

Kuldeep Vedwan saw his trainee Sheetal Devi amaze the world at the 2024 Paralympics when she became the first female para-archery champion without upper limbs. Watching her shoot arrows with her feet was astonishing, but Vedwan had an even more outrageous product waiting in his academy in Jammu and Kashmir's Katra.

Payal Nag recently defeated Sheetal to get a gold at the World Archery Para Series event in Bangkok. The only international archer in the world with no limbs, the 18-year-old's sensational win has taken the archery world by storm and Vedwan could not be more proud.

A long-time archery coach associated with Paralympic champions like Sheetal and Rakesh Kumar, Vedwan identified Payal in 2023, but it was not an easy journey.

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The pat on the back that made a champion

Vedwan tells Firstpost that he found Payal via social media in 2023. His team reached out to her in Odisha and brought her to Katra, where Vedwan coaches at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Archery Academy.

Payal saw many young archers and para archers trying to hone their skills. However, with no limbs, her challenge was different and that sank her heart at the start of her journey.

"It was difficult. We came with Payal. When she came to the ground, she got very nervous. She said, 'Sir, all the kids are standing and shooting arrows. Some kids are sitting and shooting arrows. Sheetal is shooting arrows with her feet.'

"'Sir, I don't have hands or feet. How will I shoot?'" Payal asked her coach.

But Vedwan was determined to make things work.

"I told her, patting her back, 'Son, I have brought you here. You will also be able to shoot here. Now you exercise a little physically.'"

Payal Nag has been working with Kuldeep Vedwan since 2023. PTI

Vedwan explained that the first step in making Payal a successful athlete was making her stronger. At the same time, since she had to shoot without limbs, a new device had to be created. He began his tasks quickly and within the first three months, a breakthrough was achieved.

"I tied a dumbbell to her feet with a rubber band and taught her to hold it. For three months, I worked on her entire core," Vedwan said. "For three months, I invented a device with which she was able to pick up the bow and shoot. So I made her shoot the bow."

"When she shot the first arrow, she was so happy. I had seen that happiness on Rakesh's face and on Sheetal's face when they won medals in the Paralympics. So, I thought on the same day that she had won a medal in the Olympics," he recalled.

Payal Nag's 'hand of coach'

Explaining more about the special shooting bow, the coach says, "The device is like a hand. If there is no device, then Payal is like her previous version. If today Payal is being recognised on the world platform, big people are writing for her, then it's just because of the device."

The customised bow can be used by the 18-year-old with her prosthetic leg, which is also fitted with a special tool to help lift the bow.

Vedwan served in the Indian Army and then, by 2008, started coaching archery. He was never an engineer, but still manages to come up with these devices to help para archers. He calls it a blessing of God and wants to make more of these.

"Although I am not an engineer. I have not studied engineering. But my mind is the blessing of God. My work is like that of an engineer. I am inventing many more things. I am making them slowly so that in our Indian world archery, such children never have to face this problem.

"I am very happy that Payal became the world's first such unique archer — who has no hands, no legs — and yet she went to the World Archery, took qualification, and shot and became an international medallist."

What's next for Payal Nag?

Vedwan says that he is regularly in touch with Payal, who is on cloud nine after her win in Bangkok. However, he has already told her to forget about the medal and prepare for the bigger challenges.

This is what he instructed Payal in their most recent chat: "Child, do one thing. Put the phone aside. And forget this medal, this happiness. And get into your practice. Delete it from your mind. What you did, forget it. Now get on to the next mission. The next mission is the Asian Games. So get ready for it."

"And the Olympics are coming in 2028. We will win, I have full hope," Vedwan believes.

'Payal, Sheetal are like sisters'

Vedwan also coaches Sheetal, who is Payal's senior at the Katra Academy. He says that Sheetal has always supported Payal and the two are like sisters.

"She is the senior player of Payal Nag. She is the elder sister. Both are like sisters. When Payal Nag won the medal on the podium, Sheetal came and hugged her. When our national anthem was played, Sheetal Devi turned her wheelchair. So, there is so much love in both sisters.

"By defeating Sheetal only, she won 2 gold medals. Winning 2 gold medals in front of such a player — in front of the world No 1, Paralympic medallist (is a big thing). And the most important thing is that both of them are from the same ground," he said.

With Payal and Sheetal rising as the best para compound archers in the world, India will be hoping for a double podium at this year's Asian Games.