Harvinder Singh became the first Indian archer to win gold at the Paralympic Games, as he defeated Poland's Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 in the final of the men's individual recurve open class at the Paris Paralympics on Wednesday. It was India's fourth gold at the ongoing Paris Games.
Harvinder won five back-to-back matches in a single day, showing neither fatigue nor nerves to etch his name in the history books. In the semifinals, he overturned a 1-3 deficit to triumph 7-3 over one of the favourites of the competition - Iran's Mohammad Reza Arab Ameri.
In men's individual 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 one point from the centre outwards.
The 33-year-old hails from a remote village Ajitnagar in Haryana's Kaithal district. He was born in a middle-class farming family and at the age of one and a half fell ill due to dengue. His parents took him to a local doctor who administered an injection. That had an adverse effect and Harvinder lost partial mobility in both his legs. Besides being a top class archer, Harvinder has also excelled academically. He has a doctorate in economics from Punjabi University, Patiala.
It was in the university in 2010 that Harvinder first saw some archers training. Two years later he caught a broadcast of the sport from the 2012 London Paralympics, which motivated him to go to the target range himself and get trained in the nitty-gritty of archery. His passion for the sport was then honed by coaches Jiwanjot Singh Teja and Gaurav Sharma.
Harvinder's biggest moment in the sport before the Paris Paralympics gold came when he became the first para-archer representing India to win a medal at the Paralympic Games - bronze in the men's individual recurve open event at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Before that, Harvinder won gold at the 2018 Asian Para Games in the individual event.
The 2018 Asian Para Games was the third international competition for Harvinder, who made his debut on the world stage just a year back.
