 "Harvinder Singh not only became the first Indian to feature in the final of an archery event at the Paralympics, he would also become the first to win gold. Image credit: Screengrab/Doordarshan Sports")
Indian para-archer Harvinder Singh made history on Wednesday by winning gold in the ongoing Paralympic Games in Paris. Harvinder blanked Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 in the men’s individual recurve open final to win India’s maiden gold medal in archery at the Paralympic Games.
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Pursuing PhD in Economics, the 33-year-old Indian, who lost to Kevin Mather of the USA in the Tokyo semi-finals before securing a bronze, showed neither fatigue not nerves to secure five back-to-back wins in a day to bag his second successive Paralympics medal.
Reserving his best for the final, Harvinder nailed three 10s in his last four arrows to knock out 44-year-old Ciszek 6-0 (28-24, 28-27, 29-25) for India’s second medal in archery at the ongoing Paralympics.
This was after he defeated Iran’s Mohammad Reza Arab Ameri of Iran 7-3 in the semi-final to assure himself of at least a silver, becoming the first Indian to feature in the final of an archery event in the Paralympics.
This is India’s fourth gold medal and 22nd overall at the Paris Paralympics, with the country having breached its previous best medals tally of 19 on Tuesday.
The 33 year-old had beaten Tseng Lung-hui of Chinese Taipei in the Round of 32 (7-3), before easing past Setiawan of Indonesia in the Round of 16 after what initially started off as a tight contest.
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View AllThe athlete from Haryana then defeated Colombia’s Hector Julio Ramirez 6-2 in the quarter-finals to keep himself in contention for a medal.
On Monday, compound archers Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar got the better of Italian’s Matteo Bonacina and Eleonora Sarti 156-155 to win bronze in the mixed team event.
Resilient Harvinder fights his way to gold
In each of his victories, Harvinder showcased his resilience, consistently staging comebacks to stay in the hunt.
In the final, Harvinder Singh displayed a different level of precision, conceding only two points to secure the first set with a commanding four-point lead.
Though Ciszek rallied in the second set, landing three 9s, Harvinder’s unflinching focus and consistent shooting — scoring another 28 — enabled him to edge out Ciszek by a single point, extending his lead to 4-0.
Harvinder delivered a hat-trick of 10s, including a perfect inner 10 (X), intensifying the pressure on his opponent.
Ciszek faltered with a 7 and followed with a 9, while Harvinder clinched the gold with a decisive 9 on his final arrow.
In the stands, Sheetal was seen celebrating exuberantly as Harvinder bowed, embraced his coach, and proudly waved the Tricolour.
In the semi-final, Harvinder narrowly dropped the first set 25-26 and tied the second 27-27.
Maintaining his composure, Harvinder delivered splendid performances with successive 10s on his final arrows of the third and fourth sets, clinching them 27-25 and 26-24 to take a 5-3 lead.
Needing a set win in the final end to avoid a shoot-off, Harvinder faced a strong challenge from Ameri, who opened with an X (inner 10) and followed with an 8 to level the set at 18-18, setting up a tense final arrow.
Under pressure, Ameri faltered with a 7, allowing Harvinder to close out the match with an 8 and advance.
In recurve open class, 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.
Hailing from a family of farmers from Ajit Nagar in Haryana, Harvinder faced significant adversity early in life.
When he was just one and a half years old, he contracted dengue and due to the side effects of some injections administered to him, both his legs were left impaired.
Despite this early challenge, he found a passion for archery after getting inspiration from 2012 London Paralympics.
He made his debut at the 2017 Para Archery World Championship, finishing seventh.
A gold medal at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Para Games followed, and during the COVID-19 lockdown, his father turned their farm into an archery range to support his training.
Harvinder made history by winning India’s first ever archery medal — a bronze — at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago.
With PTI inputs