The Indian duo of Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar staged a remarkable comeback after the heartbreak in the semi-finals to claim the bronze medal with a 156-155 win over Italy's Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonacina in mixed team compound archery competition at the Paralympics here on Monday.
It is only the second time that India has won a medal in Paralympics in archery. Harvinder Singh bagged an individual bronze at the Tokyo edition of the Games three years ago.
Sheetal also became the first Indian woman to win an archery medal at the quadrennial showpiece as coach Kuldeep Vedhwan rejoiced at the stands.
Sheetal's final shot earlier misjudged to 9, and then was revised to 10 following a re-check.
Something similar had happened in the semi-final too against Iran earlier in the evening, but the Indians were at the receiving end on that occasion.
The Indians shot 10, 9, 10 10 in the end to reach 155. The Italian pair responded with 9, 9, 10, 10 to draw level at 155-155. It was at that point that the judge decided to take a closer look at Sheetal's shot and concluded that it was a 10, leading to India's victory.
It was a great comeback by the Indians after they went down in the shoot-off following a dramatic semi-final clash against Iran's Fatemeh Hemmati and Hadi Nori.
Both Rakesh and Sheetal failed to win a medal in the individual event at the Games this year.
Earlier in the evening, the Indians looked on course to make the final but a fine Iranian rally and revision of the score by a judge came their way.
The match went into shoot-off after the scores were tied 152-152.
Sheetal, 17, was born in 2007 with phocomelia, a rare congenital disorder leading to underdeveloped limbs. The condition resulted in her arms not fully forming.
The 39-year-old Rakesh suffered a spinal cord injury and after recovering in 2009 he realised he would be wheelchair-bound for life, which plunged him into depression and even forced him to contemplate taking his own life.
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