Harvinder Singh on Friday claimed India’s first-ever archery medal at the Paralympics, holding his nerves to get the better of Kim Min Su of Korea in a thrilling shoot-off for the men’s individual recurve bronze at the Games in Tokyo.
World No. 23 Harvinder collected three shoot-off wins on the day starting with his triumphs in the opening rounds.
In the playoff for the bronze, the 31-year-old was leading 5-3 before the Korean clinched the fifth set, scoring a perfect 10 to force a shoot-off, where the Indian responded in style. Harvinder shot a perfect 10 against Kim’s 8 for a 6-5 (26-24, 27-29, 28-25, 25-25, 26-27) (10-8) win.
A gold medallist at the Asian Para Games in 2018, Harvinder, who is pursuing a PhD in economics from the Punjabi University in Patiala, developed interest in archery after watching the 2012 London Olympics.
In the Tokyo semi-finals, he lost to world No. 10 Kevin Mather of the US.
In the first round of 32, Harvinder squandered a 4-0 lead against Stefano Travisani after shooting a seven in the third set as his Italian rival made it 5-5 to force a shoot-off.
The Indian clinched the issue in style, shooting a perfect 10 in the tie-breaker. In the last-16, Harvinder pipped former world No. 1 Bato Tsydendorzhiev of Russia 6-5 (8-7).
In the quarters, Harvinder, whose father had turned his farm into a practice range during the lockdown, swept aside 49-year-old three-time Paralympian Maik Szarszewski of Germany, 6-2, dropping just one set.
Shuttlers shine
Pramod Bhagat and Palak Kohli qualified for the para badminton mixed doubles finals, while three singles players also made it to the last-four stage.
Bhagat, who qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s singles SL3 event on Thursday, and Kohli beat Thailand’s Siripong Teamarrom and Nipada Saensupa 21-15, 21-19 to finish second in group B. In the men’s singles, Suhas Yathiraj, Tarun Dhillon and Manoj Sarkar also made it to the semi-finals on a fruitful day for India.
Canoeist Prachi Yadav failed to make it to the podium, finishing last in the women’s Va’a single 200m VL2 canoe sprint final.