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Indian archer Harvinder Singh scripted history as he became the first Indian archer to win a gold medal at the Paralympics. Singh achieved the feat on Wednesday at the 2024 Paris edition of the multi-sport quadrennial tournament. The Tokyo Games bronze medallist defeated Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek in a lop-sided final. The 33-year-old outclassed his Polish counterpart with a score of 6-0 (28-24, 28-27, 29-25).
In the previous edition of the tournament, Harvinder had lost to Kevin Mather of the USA in the semifinal round before finishing third on the podium. He is currently pursuing Ph.D in Economics and won five back-to-back matches in a single day. Singh’s legs are impaired due to the side effects of dengue treatment that he underwent as a toddler. Harvinder’s gold marked India’s second medal in the archery at the Paralympics.
Earlier, Rakesh Kumar and Sheetal Devi secured a bronze medal in the mixed compound open category on Monday. Notably, Singh, India’s first Paralympics medallist in archery moved past world number 9 Hector Julio Ramirez of Colombia with a 6-2 win in the quarterfinals. He had defeated Chinese Taipei’s Tseng Lung-Hui 7-3 in the round of 32.
Harvinder defeated Indonesia’s Setiawan Setiawan 6-2 in the pre-quarterfinals before he became the first Indian archer to reach a Paralympic final after beating Iran’s Mohammad Reza Arab Ameri 7-3. Harvinder made his debut at the 2017 Para Archery World Championship and finished seventh, and went on to win gold at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta.
