Paris Paralympics 2024: Harvinder Singh Overcomes Deficit To Assure India Medal In Archery
Harvinder Singh will become the first Indian archer to win successive Paralympic medals in the sport. He had won a bronze in Tokyo Paralympics 2020.
Paris: Tokyo Games bronze-winner Harvinder Singh changed into the first Indian archer to enter the Paralympic finals by securing four wins in a row within the men’s recurve open competition in Paris on Wednesday. Harvinder overturned a 1-three deficit to beat Mohammad Reza Arab Ameri of Iran 7-three within the last-four stage. He is now assured of an unparalleled 2nd successive medal in archery at the Games.
Within the quarterfinals, Harvinder beat world number nine Hector Julio Ramirez of Colombia. Earlier, he knocked out Tseng Lung-Hui of Chinese Taipei 7-three in round of 32 before overcoming a gap set deficit to edge out Setiawan Setiawan of Indonesia 6-2 within the last-16 round.
Within the pre-quarters, Harvinder lost the first set by only 1 point (27-28) after a poor Eight-point start. But he changed into quick to regain composure and nailed three 28s in a row to position pressure on his Indonesian opponent. Setiawan managed 25 and 27 and within the fourth set he misfired his arrow to score 15 to concede the match.
Earlier in his opening round, Harvinder drew the first set 25-25, before he shot one 10 and 9 to win the 2nd 27-26 and take three-1 lead. Lung-Hui dished out a near perfect 1/3 set when he dropped only 1 point to win it 29-26 and produce the scores level at three-three.
But Lung-Hui faltered within the next two sets as Harvinder held his nerves to win 24-23 and 25-17 and seal his last-16 berth. In recurve open class, archers shoot from a standing position at a distance of 70m at a 122cm target made from 10 concentric circles, scoring from 10 points the total way 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 changed into only 1 and a 0.5 years old, he reduced in size dengue and received injections for treatment. Unfortunately, the negative effects of these injections resulted in a lack of function in his legs.
Despite this early challenge, he found a fondness 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 at some stage within the COVID-19 lockdown, his father turned their farm into an archery range to beef up his training.
Harvinder made history by winning India’s first-ever archery medal — a bronze — at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago. Alongside his sporting success, he is pursuing a Ph.D. degree in economics.
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