Indian archer Harvinder Singh held his nerve in tense situations to win a historic bronze medal in the men's individual recurve event at the Tokyo Paralympics.
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Indian archer Harvinder Singh won an impressive bronze medal at the Tokyo Paralympics in the men’s individual recurve event on Friday. In doing so, Harvinder secured India’s first-ever archery medal in the Paralympics. He was up against South Korea’s Su Min Kim. Singh started with a 10 in Set 1, followed by a 7 and 9, to win it 26-24. In the second set 2, he shot 8, 10 and 9, but lost to Kim’s 29 against 27. In the next set, a 10, 10 and 8 was good enough to claim a lead over Kim by 28-25. The next, Harvinder’s 9, 9 and 7 fell short by 1 point and points were shared by both at 25-25. Into the final game, Harvinder raked up 26 points but Kim’s star arrow gave him a lead by 27-26, which led the match into a shoot-off. In the shoot-off, Kim hit 8, but Harvinder won the bronze by 10.
#BRONZE for Harvinder. It’s the first-ever medal for #IND in #ParaArchery
Harvinder Singh providing a sensational game out there. #tokyo2020 #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/h1MZMWjlOv
— Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) September 3, 2021
Notably, Harvinder has fared well and won medals in archery at the national level. His achievements at the national level archery competitions gave hope to his coach that he could be the next star in Indian archery. In 2017, Harvinder made his debut in Para Archery World Championship, Beijing and finished 7th. In 2018 he won a Gold medal at the Jakarta Asian Para Games.
Avani Lekhara has become the first Indian woman to win multiple medals in the history of the Paralympics. She is further the only Indian woman to win two medals in the same edition of the Paralympics. The shooter achieved the unique distinction after winning a bronze medal in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 event of the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics.
Avani had finished second, a point behind Sweden’s Anna Normann in the qualification. The Swedish shooter and the 19-year-old both had bettered the previous qualification world record with some fantastic shooting. Avani had struggled a bit in the kneeling position during the qualification round, but found her range in the prone and standing to improve her position.
The Indian shooter was slow to get off the mark in the final, scoring a 9.8 and 9.7 in her first two shots. However, she made amends for the same soon, recording a 10.9 in her fourth shot.
Praveen Kumar helped India win their sixth silver medal. He won silver in the Men’s High Jump T64 event. Praveen is just 18 years old and already a Paralympic medalist. Having delivered a personal best jump of 2.07m which is a new Asian record. The T44 athlete started off the event with a previous best mark of 2.05m, which reflected in his confidence as the 18-year-old cleared his first mark of 1.88m on his first attempt and was tied at the top after the first jump.
Praveen maintained the surge from that point, going about clearing marks with impressive persistence and accuracy. The para-athlete’s efforts eventually bore fruit as he confirmed a medal for India after clearing 1.97m with the first attempt. While the three athletes finishing in the top three managed to clear 2.01m, reigning world champion Jonathon Broom-Edwards was topping the charts with a clean card. Praveen was placed joint second with Poland’s Maciej Lepiato who is a world record holder.
Meanwhile in the men’s shot put finals, Soman Rana finished with a creditable 4th place. His best throw was 13.81m. The 13.81m kept him at the top for a very long time. It was Marco Borges of Brazil who finally managed to displace him off the top with a throw of 14.85. There was still hope later on as Soman clung on to 2nd position until there were only 2 competitors left. Wu Goushan came along and broke the Paralympic Record (his own record) with a throw of 15m. This put Soman Rana into third place with just one competitor remaining. It was all down to Thiago Paulinho Do Santos of Brazil to seal the final spot. He blazed through with a throw of 15.10 and went on to win Gold. This also ended Soman Rana’s chances of winning a medal at the Paralympics.
In the Women’s Club Throw F51 final, Kashish Lakra finished 6th with a best throw of 12.66m and 8th place finish for Ekta Bhyan.
