Harvinder Singh's calm composure and precision turned dreams into reality as he became India's first-ever Paralympic gold medallist in archery on Wednesday. The 33-year-old Indian, who holds a PhD in economics and lost to Kevin Mather of the US in the semi-finals in Tokyo before securing bronze, showed neither fatigue nor nerves to complete five straight victories in one day and claim his second consecutive Paralympic medal. Harvinder reserved his best for the final and hit three 10s in his last four arrows to knock out his 44-year-old opponent from Poland Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 (28-24, 28-27, 29-25) for India's second archery medal at the ongoing Paralympic Games.
Rakesh Kumar and Sheetal Devi won a bronze medal in the mixed compound open category on Monday.
Harvinder, India's first Paralympic medallist in archery, defeated world number 9 Hector Julio Ramirez of Colombia 6-2 in the quarter-finals after having earlier knocked out Tseng Lung-Hui of Chinese Taipei 7-3 in the round of 16.
In the quarter-finals he came from a sets deficit to defeat Indonesia's Setiawan Setiawan 6-2.
He became the first Indian archer to reach the Paralympic final after turning a 1-3 deficit into a 7-3 win over Iran's Mohammad Reza Arab Ameri.
With each victory, Harvinder showed his resilience and managed to make a comeback time and again to stay in the race.
In the final, Harvinder Singh showed another level of precision, conceding only two points and winning the first set with a convincing four-point lead.
Although Ciszek made a comeback in the second set, scoring three 9's, Harvinder's unwavering focus and consistent shooting (scoring another 28 points) saw him beat Ciszek by one point and extend his lead to 4-0.
Harvinder Singh made a hat-trick of 10s, including a perfect inner 10 (X), increasing the pressure on his opponent.
Ciszek faltered with a 7 and followed up with a 9, while Harvinder took gold with a decisive 9 on his final dart.
In the stands, Sheetal Devi was seen in jubilation while Harvinder bowed, hugged his coach and proudly waved the tricolour.
In the semi-finals, Harvinder narrowly lost the first set 25-26 and drew the second set 27-27.
Harvinder kept his composure and delivered a great performance with consecutive 10's in his last darts in the third and fourth sets to win the set 27-25 and 26-24 to take a 5-3 lead.
Harvinder needed a set win in the last end to avoid a shoot-off, but faced a strong opponent from Ameri. He opened with an X (inner 10) and then made an 8 to tie the set: 18-18. This made for an exciting final phase.
Under pressure, Ameri failed with a 7, allowing Harvinder to decide the match with an 8 and advance.
In the open recurve class, archers shoot from a standing position at a distance of 70 meters to a 122 cm target consisting of 10 concentric circles. From the center outwards this yields 10 points, from 10 to 1 point.
Harvinder comes from a farming family in Ajit Nagar in Haryana and faced great adversity early in his life.
When he was only one and a half years old, he contracted dengue fever and due to the side effects of certain injections he received, both his legs were damaged.
Despite this early challenge, he discovered a passion for archery after being inspired by the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
He made his debut at the 2017 Para Archery World Championships, where he finished seventh.
He won a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta 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 medal – bronze – at the Tokyo Paralympic Games three years ago.
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