Paris, Sep 4 (PTI) Tokyo Games bronze-winner Harvinder Singh became the first Indian archer to enter the Paralympic finals by securing four wins in a row in the men’s recurve open competition here on Wednesday.
Harvinder, the first Indian Paralympic medallist in archery, overturned a 1-3 deficit to triumph over Iran’s Mohammad Reza Arab Ameri 7-3.
The 33-year-old Indian, who lost to Kevin Mather of the USA in the Tokyo semifinals before securing a bronze, 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.
Harvinder 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.
In each of his victories, Harvinder showcased his resilience, consistently staging comebacks to stay in the hunt.
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.
Alongside his sporting success, he is pursuing a Ph.D in economics. PTI TAP PDS APA ATK PM TAP PM PM
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