Paris, Sep 1 (PTI) Indian archer Rakesh Kumar justified his world No. 1 ranking as he remained ice-cool to pull off successive shoot-off wins to make his maiden semifinals in the Paralympics compound men open category here on Sunday.
Just one win away from a medal, Rakesh will face Tokyo Paralympics bronze medallist and top-seed An Xinliang of China in the semifinal.
The 39-year-old Indian veteran, who was eliminated in the Tokyo Paralympics at the quarterfinal stage, first overcame world No. 2 Ken Swagumilang of Indonesia 144-144 (10-8) to make the quarterfinals.
Displaying remarkable composure, Rakesh, a sports psychologist and dietician, returned to the shooting line within two hours.
In a riveting shoot-off finish, he outshot Canada’s Kyle Tremblay with a perfect bulls-eye, demonstrating his mental resilience and technical precision.
Rakesh had a slow start, trailing by two points after nine arrows. However, staying cool as a cucumber, he delivered three perfect 10s in the fourth end, turning the tables to take a narrow 116-115 lead.
The drama intensified in the fourth end when Rakesh lost by one point, with the Canadian shooting two 10s, his final arrow landing closer to the center.
The scores were tied at 144-144, the same scoreline Rakesh faced in the quarterfinals as another shootoff loomed.
Unlike the Indonesian archer in the quarterfinals, the Canadian found the 10-ring, heightening the tension.
Unfazed, Rakesh took a deep breath, stayed composed, and landed his arrow just 3mm closer to the center.
In comparison, Ken’s arrow was 29.55mm from the bulls-eye, underscoring Rakesh’s precision under pressure.
Earlier, in a battle between the top-two world ranked archers, Rakesh overcame a blip to defeat Ken.
Rakesh held his slender one-point lead and needed a 9-point in his final arrow to seal the issue in five ends.
But he slipped to the the 8-pointer red-ring as both the archers were locked 144-144 in the regulation five ends, consisting of 15 arrows.
In the ensuing shootoff, the Indian held his nerve to shoot a perfect 10, while Ken managed an 8.
Rakesh started on the backfoot with Ken pulling off a perfect first end shooting 30 out of 30, while the Indian dropped a point.
Rakesh bounced back to drill in three 10s, while Ken managed 28 to take a one-point lead.
The third and fourth ends saw both the archers dropping a point each as Rakesh maintained his slender lead before the slip-up in his final arrow of the designated five ends.
The archer from Jammu had won gold medal in individual and mixed team events of the Asian Para Championships last year.
He also won the mixed team gold medal at the World Para Championships.
Rakesh suffered a spinal cord injury and after recovering in 2009 he realised he would be wheelchair-bound for life, plunging him into depression and even thought of taking the extreme step.
His life took a new turn after meeting his archery coach Kuldeep Vedwan as the duo began their stint together at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in Katra.
In the open class, archers shoot from a sitting position at a distance of 50m at an 80cm five-ring target made up of the 10-6 point bands. PTI TAP BS TAP PDS PDS
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