Harvinder Singh's historic archery gold in Paralympics marks a new era

Paris: Harvinder Singh’s calm composure and precision turned dreams into reality as he became India’s first-ever Paralympic gold medalist in archery on Wednesday.

Pursuing PhD in Economics, the 33-year-old Indian, who lost to Kevin Mather of the USA in the Tokyo semifinals 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 his 44-year-old opponent from Poland Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 (28-24, 28-27, 29-25) for India's second medal in archery at the ongoing Paralympics.

Rakesh Kumar and Sheetal Devi had won a bronze medal in the mixed compound open category on Monday.

Harvinder, the first Indian Paralympic medallist in archery, dispatched world No. 9 Hector Julio Ramirez of Colombia 6-2 in the quarterfinals, having earlier eliminated Tseng Lung-Hui of Chinese Taipei 7-3 in the round of 32.

In the pre-quarters, he rallied from an initial set deficit to edge out Setiawan Setiawan of Indonesia 6-2.

He became the first Indian archer to enter the Paralympic final when he overturned a 1-3 deficit to triumph over Iran's Mohammad Reza Arab Ameri 7-3.

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 Singh 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 Devi was seen celebrating exuberantly as Harvinder bowed, embraced his coach, and proudly waved the Tricolour.

In the semifinal, 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.