Paris: Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Harvinder Singh made further history for India by winning the gold medal in the Men’s Individual Recurve Open, becoming the first Indian archer to win a gold medal in the Paralympic Games. With a consistent and rock-solid performance, Harvinder Singh, a bronze medallist in the second event in the Tokyo Paralympic Games three years back, bagged the gold medal by blanking Lukasz Ciszek of Poland 6-0 in the final on Wednesday.
With this achievement, Harvinder became the first and only Indian archer to win a gold medal in the Paralympics and Olympics. He is also the first and only archer to secure medals in consecutive editions of the Paralympics.
Harvinder’s gold medal took India’s tally to 22 medals in Paris with four gold, eight silver and 10 bronze. India have thus moved to the 15th spot in the standings. Harvinder’s gold comes after Sachin Khilari claimed a silver medal earlier in the day.
In the Gold Medal Match on Wednesday, Harvinder came up with a dominant display.
A 10 in the first set besides two 9s secured Harvinder Singh the first set as the Pole shot a seven in between nine and eight for a 28-24 win. Up 2-0, Harvinder started the second set with two successive nines and then topped it with a 10 for 28 while Ciszek had three 9s for another narrow defeat. Harvinder, from a farmer’s family from Kaithal in Haryana, sealed the gold medal with two 10s followed by a nine (29) while Ciszek started with a seven and then scored two 9s for a 29-25 win.
Earlier, Harvinder had assured himself a second successive medal in the Paralympic Games as he stormed into the final with a come-from-behind win over Iran’s Arab Ameri Mohammad Reza in the semifinal here on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old Harvinder came up with a brilliant performance, coming back after losing the first set to stun the Iranian 7-3, sealing a place in the maiden final at the Paralympic Games.
In the semifinal, Harvinder lost the first set 26-25 because of a seven on his second arrow. The second set ended in a tie at 27-27. he then levelled scores at 3-3 by winning the third set 27-25 and surged ahead to a 5-3 set points lead by winning the fourth set 26-24.
Harvinder Singh then sealed a place in the final with another steady performance, shooting two 9s and an eight for a 26-25 win after the Iranian started with a 10 but faltered for an eight and seven on his next two arrows.
Earlier, Harvinder, who had bagged a bronze medal in the Tokyo Paralympic Games after losing in the semifinals, got the better of Colombia’s Julio Ramirez Hector 6-2 in a quarterfinal clash.
The Indian had started the day with a 7-3 win over Tseng Lung-Hui of Chinese Taipei and continued to march ahead with a fine 6-2 win over Indonesia’s Setiawan Setiawan in the prequarters.
–IANS